Ayanami: Vengeance
by GasmaskAvenger
Summary: In the city of Tokyo-3, several teenagers are given the task to protect the world from a race of beings only known as angels. One of them, the First Child Rei Ayanami, is the focus of this tale of intrigue, teen life, humor, biomechs and horror.
1. Prologue

_On September 13th, 2000, a massive explosion in Antarctica occurred._

_Many nations were shattered by this explosion, plunging the world into a hellhole of war and death._

_Many helpless souls perished, many economies faltered and government corruption grew stronger in the fallout._

_This catastrophic event was dubbed by many as the "Second Impact"_

_From the ashes of ruin and disaster, hope for change and prosperity for the future arose._

_However, many believed that that something within Antarctica was responsible._

_Something inhuman._

_Many believed that a race of beings were living deep inside Antarctica._

_An unusual, mysterious race only known as The Angels._

_With the threat of the angels in the near future possible a new breed of combat weapons has been born to answer the call of duty._

_They are..._

_The Evangelions._

_Biomechanical organisms of flesh and steel unlike anything the human eye has seen._

_However, there are only few on this world that are able to control these titans._

_Few that share one thing in common…_

_They are mere children in their early teens._

_Children conceived just after the Second Impact._

_It is currently unknown why only they can pilot these potential saviors of the world._

_With that said, this tale follows one of those children._

_A child who will stand center stage in the spotlight for the fate of mankind..._

* * *

**Ayanami: Vengeance**

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

_March 31st, 2001._

* * *

Somewhere in Japan a dark, grimy and humid underground parking lot footsteps are heard.

A young Caucasian woman, frantically keeping her clutches on her day old child, neatly wrapped within a light blue blanket, is on the run deep in a dark, grimy and humid underground parking lot.

She is sweaty, panic-stricken, dressed in a damp gray hospital gown with a denim jacket covering it and gray hospital slippers, panting and heaving as she runs through the parking lot to find her charcoal-colored Dodge Viper.

Behind her, a group of soldiers wearing JSSDF tactical combat uniforms and wielding custom outfitted AN-94 Assault Rifles, with the laser scopes being clearly aimed at the escapee.

The woman, who's long, unkempt dark brown hair flies around as she runs, turns her head and sees the soldiers on her tail. A split second later she finds her car.

She gets in and initially reaches her right hand into the right pocket of the jacket, but quickly remembers that she's an escapee from a hospital, which all of her personal belongings were taken away from her shortly after being admitted, with the jacket belonging to her husband's and the gown and shoes being the property of the hospital.

Quickly coming up with an alternate plan to get in, she backs away from her car, runs towards it and with a strength befitting a mother on her own protecting her only offspring, she kicks the left back door window, breaking through it with startling ease.

She then reaches her hand in though the broken window and despite stressing her left hand out, manages to unlock and open the back right door. She then grabs a bassinet sitting on the back seat, frantically pulling it out and shaking the shards of glass out.

She then places her one day old child into the bassinet, securely puts it back onto the seat and puts a seat belt over it. She then reaches her hand towards the driver seat side, unlocks it and pulls her arm back out of the car to slam the door shut.

With everything ready to do, she steps back out to steal a glance at her pursuers.

They're getting closer, ready to incapacitate her well being and steal her child away.

She takes one more look at her child, then properly enters the car.

Once inside, she begins to quickly hot wire the car, all the while combating the stress and exhaustion from running a great distance.

From outside she begins to hear muffled gunfire from her pursuers, which all the more gives her a greater incentive to hurry up.

With a simple spark, the car roars to life. She keeps a strong grip on the wheel until her knuckles turned white, puts the car in reverse and without a second though, backs her car out while proceeding to run into several soldiers, sending them flying into other nearby parked cars. She then ducks down to avoid getting hit as a hail of gun fire shattered her windshield, tries her best to navigate out of the parking and blazes out of the parking lot , breaking out of the darkness and entering the light, leaving her pursuers and the hospital behind without any regrets.

* * *

The remaining JSSDF soldiers, who managed to barrel out of the way in time to prevent getting hit, stand up and see the crippled bodies of their fallen comrades, sickeningly spread out on dented cars like grotesque hood ornaments.

"That bitch killed Carth and Boomer!", the lead solider yells at his remaining comrades as he examines the stiff, mangled bodies of his deceased men on top of the dented parked cars.

"I know... but she managed to escape. Mr. Lorenz isn't gonna be pleased to be presented that kind of news", another solider informs her superior officer.

"Yes. She escaped with that child our bosses value. That, in particular, is why Mr. Lorenz is gonna want my ass on a silver platter with a side order of your heads", the lead soldier replied.

'Well, it was nice knowing you, Rodion", a third soldier informed his superior. "Hope your father can get you out of this one."

"Yeah yeah yeah...head out.", the lead soldier commanded his remaining comrades as they all walked out of the parking lot and into an entrance way to their place of command.

* * *

The JSSDF soldiers follow their leader as he walks through a metallic hallway which a mixture of various people in business suits and scientists are passing by and doing their own things. They all then walk up to a large oak door with a name plate that read "Keel Lorenz" and proceed to enter the room one by one.

* * *

After they all stepped inside, they see a black office chair facing backwards behind a desk. Before any of them could settle in, the person behind the desk informs, "Lieutenant Frammartino and Captain Bosque. You are excused. Leave me and General Nicholaiev alone." which leads to two of them exiting the room, leaving their commanding officer behind.

* * *

"General Rodion Nicholaiev. I've been expecting you", the man behind the desk informs him.

"Yes, Mr. Lorenz. I know you have...which is why I am here to inform you that Private Carth and Lieutenant Boomer were killed in action.", General Nicholaiev replies as he stands in front of the table and chair doing his best not tofurther anger his boss.

"Hmmm... I wonder why. Did you manage to capture our escapee and the prize she took from us?", Mr. Lorenz, still hidden in view, asks.

General Nicholaiev, having a very nervous look in his face, lightly tiptoed around the room while fiddling his fingers together, replied "Well.. we managed to eliminate her husband, since he got in the way but...uhhhh...ummmm..."

Mr. Lorenz then turns his chair around, revealing him to be an aging gray haired man dressed in a green business suit. He leans in towards his desk, looks into General Nicholaiev's hazel eyes with his piercing dark gray eyes and sternly asks "Did you...let her escape with the key to humanity's future?"

Nervously shifting his eyes to the left and the right, General Nicholaiev slightly took a glance at Mr. Lorenz's face and chuckles, "Heh...she got away". He then nervously nods his head and ads, with his voice reaching a higher octave and chuckling "She got away. Fucking bitch got away all thanks to her piece of shit husband, who we successfully terminated, yet she escaped. Got in her car, backed out and turned Carth and Boomer into car ornaments. Yup...we failed to capture her and take that little brat you and your friends are relying on so much to be retrieved."

As General Nicholaiev continues to mumble and essentially "one man mosh" through the room, his ranting and passing comments end up degenerating into pure spastic gibberish, thus prompting Mr. Lorenz to latch onto General Nicholaiev's left shoulder with his right hand and pull him towards the table while slamming his left hand down on the table hard. He then twists his face into a stiff, snarling look and coldly growls, "YOU LET HER GET AWAY WITH THE CHILD!"

"Unfortunately...yes. Like I said...", General Nicholaiev frantically jabbers in response as he skittishly rolled his fingers against each other and displays some twitches in his face.

Mr. Lorenz the put his other hand onto General Nicholaiev's right shoulder and roughly pulls him onto the desk, with his face facing directly into Mr. Lorenz's own staring at him with a look that displays absolute rage and anger, with his teeth clamped to each other as he growls "DO YOU NOT REALIZE WHO SHE IS, GENERAL NICHOLAIEV. DO YOU?"

"Negative, Mr. Lorenz...", General Nicholaiev admitted in a spooked tone.

Mr. Lorenz then edges his face even closer into General Nicholaiev's and coldly informs him "That woman is Agent Danielle Mann-Parkerson of the United States Government and happens to be the mother of humanity's key to the future. She is a top of the line agent in the CIA, a former marine and all around considered by many to be one of the the most lethal and unpredictable human being in all fields of combat and investigation. In other words...she is someone to not be underestimated."

General Nicholaiev darts his eyes to the left and to the right, with several sweat drops dripping from his face. He then nervously chuckles, "But the bitch just gave birth yesterday. How in the fuckin' world was it possible for her to escape, let alone... break a car door window with a single kick under those circumstances?."

Mr. Lorenz then grits his teeth again and grunts, "I told you all this in the briefing. Just because she gave birth yesterday doesn't mean she would just back down and give up without a fight. In fact, you didn't need to bring her in alive. All I want is the child brought back to me without a single scratch"

"Mr. Lorenz, I understand that this child is important to you and you friends, but what is it that makes her so...special?", General Nicholaiev asks Mr. Lorenz, while still sounding a bit nervous, has calmed down considerably, due to realizing that Mr. Lorenz isn't going to crucify him for his failure...just yet. "If i'm going to put all of my time and energy into retrieving this damn child, I need to know full, explict details of what make her so fuckin' special."

Mr. Lorenz immediately eases his clutch on General Nicholaiev, clears his throat and tells him "Alright then. I'll grant your wish and elaborate why we need that child...as long as you don't inform any of your men and take a seat for me.", in which Nicholaiev simply complies by pulling up a chair nearby and sitting down on it. "Since last year, we've been conducting an experiment by injecting a special strand of DNA extracted from a mysterious race of beings we, at SEELE, refer to as 'Angels' into developing human embryos. We hoped that we could create a new race as the next phase in human evolution. However, as fate would have it, most of these experiments often resulted into total failure, with the newborn children often being too deformed and physically unable to live."

"So you're telling me is that you're trying to play god with some DNA and developing human embryos?" General Nicholaiev replies to the first batch of information he received, sounding a bit repelled by some of it.

"Yes and no, General Nicholaiev.", Mr. Lorenz replies "What we're trying to do is take our evolution to the next level by making the next generation superior than any of us living today."

Mr. Lorenz stretches his neck around and adds. "Despite the failures, we continued to keep experimenting, always ending up in failure... until we met the Nagisas. Unlike previous tests, their child managed to survive birth...with some unfortunate birth defects"

"What kind of birth defects?", General Nicholaiev asks Mr. Lorenz with a strong sense of morbid curiosity in his voice as he places his hands onto his knees and leans on his chair.

"The Nagisa kid was born with a severe case of Bronchopulmonary Dysphasia. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease if you're not educated in the medical fields. Poor child can't breath on his own and requires to be in a Pressure Chamber at all times. He's also rather sickly looking, judging by various observations me and my colleagues have made", Mr. Lorenz replies in his typically cold, morose tone.

"So what about Agent Mann's child. What makes her different from the Nagisa child?", General Nicholaiev asks as he continues to lean on his chair, completely invested in hearing what Mr. Lorenz is telling him.

"As I keep telling you, that child is the key to our future. Unlike the Nagisa child and the failed experiments, we decided to use the DNA of another angel in hopes to see if it could yield us some better results. Now, with Mrs. Parkerson in the picture after signing up to our...ahem...bogus newborn disease prevention serum program after calling the number found on the program's infomercial, we felt that her unborn child should be the first to receive this brand of DNA and to our shock...she was a complete success. In fact, she is genetically superior in just about every aspect to any of the failed experiments, the Nagisa child and practically humanity as a whole. She is what we have been hoping for ever since we started this program, but you and your officers weren't persistent enough and managed to let her get away!", Mr. Lorenz replies and continues to scold General Nicholaiev for his poor planning and actions that led to Mrs. Parkerson escaping.

"Mr. Lorenz, I assure you that me and my team will not let her get away with the child next time...if there is one.", General Nicholaiev replied in response.

"There certainly will, General Nicholaiev. I entrust you now to take care of the matter, especially since I wouldn't want your father, who is a member of the Russian Federation, to view you as a total failure. If you are able to bring the child in, you'll not only benefit humanity's future, but your family name will be engraved in the annals of history's greats", Mr. Lorenz informed General Nicholaiev, with his voice sounding more optimistic and manipulative than before.

"I won't fail either of you. I promise", General Nicholaiev replied as he stood up. He then bowed and added, "Now...when is our next chance to capture the child?"

"Right now, we do not have a confirmed location of where our escapee is, but when its given to us...I'm coming along with you...and my own personal team of negotiators and secretaries. You and several others will be my body guards in case Mrs. Parkerson decides to attack, okay?" Mr. Lorenz asked General Nicholaiev as he clamped his hands together and hunched towards the desk.

"Yes I do.", General Nicholaiev replied as he nodded.

"Good. Now hand me a bullet proof vest. I need it in case she attempts to shoot me.", Mr. Lorenz responded back as he ordered General Nicholaiev to fetch him a bullet proof vest for protection.

* * *

Hours have passed since Danielle Mann-Parkerson has escaped from the SEELE-fronted hospital where she gave birth to her daughter.

"There there, my little angel", Danielle calmly whispers to her daughter as she sits on a wooden platform in a shadowy alleyway within a rather small town as she breastfeeds her to keep her alive. She then spots several different Japanese posters nailed to the wall on the other side of the alleyway. She also hears a constant dripping from an exposed pipe nearby that, aside from the nursing of her child, was the most audible noise in the area.

"Well...this is rather surprising. I came here to give you a serum to prevent you from developing debilitating diseases and disorders, all while planning to stop Seele, but instead, I find myself stripped of all my belongings and reduced to goddamn hospital gown and some slippers. At least your father, bless his soul for letting us escape with our lives, gave me his jacket to make me look a little more presentable. I never wanted you to be whisked into this type of a life, especially so soon in your life, my darling, and I will go out my way to keep my promise", Danielle tells her one day old child, who continues to receive her mother's milk as a meal for the day.

Danielle slowly lets herself off the platform and walks out of the alleyway to take a peak at the buildings on the street. Most of them were mom and pop shops for various goods and supplies. However, what caught all her attention was a rather odd looking building with a large white tarp with words in Japanese painted in black.

"I don't understand a single lick of Japanese, but I wonder if that's an orphanage?", Danielle ponders to herself as she examines the building and tarp from a distance. She then looks at her daughter, still drinking her mother's milk, and informed her "My dear angel. I think i've found a place for you to live a burden free life".

She then pulls her child away from her left breast and towards her face, adding "You are so beautiful, my angel. I wish I could raise you myself to guide you through life, but since I know I won't be able to survive any longer being free, I can only hope someone else can appreciate the angelic qualities you possess, especially at this age."

Danielle pauses for a second to let out a depressed sigh, then adds "I know you will grow up to be a very beautiful woman with a perfect life, which is why I am doing this for you"

Danielle then began to tear up and sniffles while she continues. "I hope you will forgive me in the future once you find out, but this is for your own good. "

She clears her nose with a single sniff and adds, "I just want you to live free and prosper!", which she then broke into tears and cries "My angel, my beautiful angel. I love you with all my heart. Even thoughI won't be of this planet when you grow up, I will still be with you by your side all the time!"

Danielle, while crying, slowly walks towards her parked Dodge Viper and opens the left back door, situating her child back into the bassinet. She then lifts it, walks away from the car door and shuts it, proceeding to head back to the building with the white tarp hanging on it.

As she reaches the door steps of the building, she then gives her daughter one final look, informed her "Goodbye, my angel. Not ever death will stop me from loving you", plants a big kiss on her forehead and plac the bassinet on the main doorstep. She then knocks on the door and runs back to the alleyway, spying on the building.

The door of the building opens with an aging Japanese woman wearing a formal suit of sorts walking out. She picks up the bassinet, sees the child and says several words in Japanese in a shocked yet delighted tone that at one point sounds marginally hostile but in the end remains calm. With the bassinet in hand she then walks into the building, shutting the door behind her.

Despite not knowing what was said Danielle was satisfied that her daughter will receive the life she wanted her to have.

* * *

As she stands by the alleyway, a nearby payphone begins to rings for reasons unknown, which greatly startles her. Having no other choice, she runs towards and answers it.

"Who is this?", Danielle asks as she talked into the phone.

"Agent Mann, I want you meet me at the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in roughly ten minutes.", the voice on the other line replies.

"How the hell do you know who I am?" Danielle yells back, trying to get an answer out of the person on the other end.

However, much to her irritation, the phone immediately hangs up on her without hesitation.

* * *

Realizing what the phone call means, its now her time to meet her maker. She knows that she's not going to make it out of the country alive, especially since her husband sacrificed himself to help her and her daughter escape. She then runs towards her Dodge Viper, gets in and sits on the driver's seat.

Inside, she opens the glove compartment, revealing her custom outfitted Colt Delta Elite. Danielle took the gun out, examined it and reloaded it, proceeding to place it in her husband's jacket right pocket. She then starts the car up and drives off, heading towards the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge as fast as she could.

* * *

Roughly eight minutes later, the sun has being to set in. Danielle arrives on the bridge, only to be surrounded by a swarm of cars, armored vans and a helicopter hovering overhead.

"Agent Mann...please step out of the car. I repeat. Agent Mann...please step out of the car now!", a voice from the helicopter yells out, using a megaphone to amplify the volume of his voice.

Danielle, knowing that it's the end, gets out of her car and finds herself surrounded by a swarm of people with camcorders and JSSDF soldiers. She then spots a limo drive up and park, which a young woman in a custom fitted business suit and a familiar looking aging man emerge out of it.

"Keel Lorenz, long time CEO and head of Seele, I've been waiting to meet you.", Danielle announces to Keel as he walks towards her.

"I share the same sentiments, Agent Mann. You know who I am, but I very much know who you are", Keel replied as he stood in front of Danielle. "and you've proven yourself to be quite the nuisance to us."

"I can imagine, Keel. In fact, I've been waiting for this moment myself so I can take you down myself.", Danielle informed Keel in a marginally sadistic, frustrated yet at the same time satisfied tone while grinning.

"So that's why you called the number on that informercial, Agent Mann. You basically went out all your way to risk the life of your unborn child and loving husband just to see if you can put an end to our control?" Keel asks Danielle with a hint of a chuckle in his voice. "Even though your child turned out to be quite the valuable asset we've been waiting for."

"Of course, Keel. I know how much of a iron clutch you and SEELE friends have on our precious world. If I was able to take you all down through other means I would've done it in a heartbeat. However, as much as I admit it was stupid of me to even risk the life of my child by signing up to your bullshit super embryo serum infomercial program, it was the only way possible for me to get to this point." Danielle replied with sternness in her voice.

"Regardless of your little plan to exterminate us, your child is now the key to our evolution. She's all that matters to us, Agent Mann. Just hand her over to us and there will be no harm.", Keel informs Danielle as his eyes dart right into her own and steps closer towards her.

Danielle shifts her eyes to the left and to the right, thinks for a second, then replies "You want my child? Fine. Take her. I wasn't ready to start a family yet anyhow."

Keel, although sensing a bit of fishiness in Danielle's remarks, is satisfied by what she said and tells her "I'm glad that you made this decision for the sake of mankind. We'll appreciate it dearly.". He then reaches his right hand towards one of Danielle's to receive a handshake. Danielle complies and shakes it with her own.

"Anyways, give me a second to hand over my useless daughter to you." Danielle informs him after they shook hands. "She's in the car."

"Make it quick, Agent Mann. We don't have any time for you to fiddle around.", Keel replies to Danielle's statement.

Danielle simply nods as she walks towards her parked Dodge Viper, opens the left back door, reaches in and pulls out something wrapped in blankets. With it in hand, she shuts the door and walks back towards Keel and his group.

"Here's my child. Take her. Do what you want. I was naïve to think I could singlehandedly take you and SEELE down, but since I failed..why not. Do whatever the fuck you want with my daughter, I have no desire to raise her myself anymore." Danielle tells Keel as she hands the object towards him.

He then takes it, smiles and replies "Thank you. Thank you for handing her own and paying you dues to humanity. Your contributions will not go without credit. You are excused."

* * *

Danielle begins to walk back to her Dodge Viper, but stops halfway, turns around and heads back to Keel and Co. as she replies, "You know... sometimes I wonder how it feels to be in full control the world. Have all of that power to stifle society and manipulate everyone in your path to further your own greed and power?"

"Why is that, Agent Mann?" Keel questions her as she decided to not leave just yet. "Your job is finished. Go back home and return to your pathetic way of living without your husband and child. Our business is done here and you did your part, now be gone!"

"Yes, Keel..i'm leaving, but before I part I have a question to ask you." Danielle asks him.

"Enlighten me, Agent Mann." Keel replies, sounding relatively irritated with her.

"Have you ever took a bullet to your body?", Danielle replies. "If not, I think it's a good time for you to do so.", which she whips her Colt Delta Elite out of her right jacket pocket and aims it at Keel.

Everyone, except Danielle, gasp as she reveals her firearm to everyone. Without hesitation, she pulls the trigger, sending the bullet right into Keel's chest, violently knocking him down to the floor.

General Rodion Nicholaiev screams"Open Fire!", which prompts his troops to aim their guns at Danielle and open fire, causing streams of blood to erupt from Danielle's body and viciously forcing her body to stumble to the pavement.

* * *

Believing that his men neutralized the threat, General Nicholaiev slowly walks up towards Danielle's bloodied, bleeding body and aims his gun at her. However, much to his horror, Danielle raises her head, which blood is dripping and pouring out of her nostrils and mouth in a stomach churning manner. She twists her mouth into a demented blood drenched grin, looks at him and raises her gun towards his head

Dumbfounded that Danielle is still alive, General Nicholaiev does nothing but stands like an idiot, at a complete lost in trying to decided what to do next.

Deciding to not waste any more time on her depleting mortality, Danielle pulls the trigger, sending a bullet flying right into Nicholaiev's left eye and squeezing right out of his head, letting a sickening geyser of blood and brain matter spray out out of the hole. His body then frantically stumbles around like a possessed man having a seizure, clutching onto the trigger of his assault rifle as one final act of impulsive, reflex-imposed action.

The gun fire hits the secretary, another JSSDF soldier and several men in suits, killing them all instantly. General Nicholaiev's body then finally falls down, still firing the gun at an aimless direction hitting nothing but a nearby wall until the gun runs out of ammo and his reflexes stop dead cold.

* * *

Horrified by their commanding officer's sudden death, the remaining soldiers aim their guns at a dying Danielle and without any hesitation, get into position to open fire.

Still standing but losing her grip, Danielle aims her gun at the JSSDF soldiers, smiles and lets out one final laugh before she pulls the trigger.

Despite her increasingly weakening state, she pulls the trigger, which sends a bullet flying into a wall. This prompts one of the JSSDF soldiers, which happens to be Lieutenant Patrizia Frammartino, to point at Danielle and yell, "FIRE!"

The JSSDF soliders open fire, sending a plethora of bullets at Danielle. Her left arm is completely ripped off by the hail of bullets, her torso and stomach are torn open, allowing her entrails to fall and fly out in a quesy manner. Her cranium is ripped is shreds a little, with brain manner, bone, hair and skin fragments splash away like a barrel of cranberries being poured, all while her lower jaw gets split in half and dangles on her skull like a horrific slab of meat suspended in the air. The skin of her left leg gets shredded, showing bones and muscle tissue.

The force of the bullets become strong enough to knock Danielle's lifeless body right down to the ground, which the bullets continue to reduce it to a disgusting, nightmarish pile of tattered clothes, body parts, blood and entrails.

* * *

Amidst the chaos, Keel lays on the pavement, physically unable to stand back up. Blood oozes from his back and large gobs of spinal fluid dribble out of his nostrils His eyes then grow heavy as his vision becomes fuzzy and incomprehensible. Unable to keep consciousness, he blacks out.

* * *

"Master Lorenz, are you awake?", Lieutenant Frammartino's voice calls out of the darkness.

"I think he should be responding soon, but be patient if he doesn't regain conscious." an aging meek man with a long nose replies.

Keel finally opens his eyes and finds himself in a darkened room, firmly situated on a hospital bed surrounded by various gizmos and electronics.

As he looks around the room, he spots Lieutenant Frammartino and the meek man, only to ask the latter "Nigel Gibeault, what the hell am I doing in here?"

"I'm afraid to be the bearer of bad news...but your spinal cord has been severed as a result of a bullet that pierced through your bullet proof vest during the standoff with the late Agent Danielle Mann-Parkerson." Nigel replies back with a grim tone in his voice.

Keel does not reply, but instead rolls his eyes around in shock as he's been rendered speechless by this news.

"...I can assure you this will not be a complete inconvenience since there's an operation out there that can give you an artificial spine." Nigel adds. "At first it may take a while to adjust your lifestyle with it, but in the end you'll be able to continue living your current lifestyle."

Keel remains silent, obviously bitter and taken aback by this news.

"...Master Lorenz...if you're at a loss of words, I can tell you the news of the child at a later date." Lieutenant Frammartino informs him.

Hearing what the JSSDF solider said, he coldly darts his eyes towards her and growls, "Don't wait on it, Ms. Frammartino, I want you to tell me now."

"But what about your spine?" she replies back.

"Forget about it." Keel growls back. "As Nigel said, I can get a new one, just give me the information on the child."

"There was no child at the scene, Master Lorenz." Lieutenant Frammartino replies. "Agent Mann fooled us all with her little diversion that cost her life."

"Damn it!" Keel growls back. "I knew I should've not underestimated her during our little exchange."

"I have some more bad news to tell you." Nigel informs him.

"What is it?" Keel asks him, sounding increasingly angry over the situation at hand.

"The lid has been blown off our little informercial scam and we're in deep shit." Nigel replies. "You don't know how much of our reputation is on jepardy because of what went down."

"Son of a bitch!" Keel growls back. "How the hell our we going to deal with this?"

"I've already managed to contact our favorite lawyers to see if we can soften the blow this mess has gotten us into." Nigel responds. "However, I doubt anyone will take us seriously in the end. Might as well kiss our precious clutches on the world goodbye."

"Damn it! That child was supposed to be the gateway to our evolution." Keel yells out, "but her cunt of a mother messed it all up for us, that arrogant bitch. It's all over for us, Nigel. It's all over."

"Not so fast, Keel, my old friend." Nigel replies, trying to calm him down. "I've been looking into an alternative to reach our goals of evolution since our little master race scheme has been leaked to the general public."

"Please...tell me what it is?" Keel asks him, marginally calming down a bit. "I cannot stand living in this putrid state of living any longer."

"Well...first off...are you familiar with the concept of Instrumentality?" Nigel asks.

"...well yes, but not quite." Keel replies, sounding a little curious. "How would it play into the evolution of mankind?"

"Well first off, in order to achieve instrumentality, we must create some vessels to interact with Adam's embryo and Lilith." Nigel adds. "as far as I can tell, it's the only way we can achieve this plan."

"Vessels?" Keel asks him. "What kind of vessels?"

"Well...perhaps we can hire someone to create biomechanical war machines derived from Adam and Lilith to assist us in opening the tree of life." Nigel continues to inform his fellow SEELE board member.

"Why machines of war?" Keel asks, initially unsure of what Nigel is getting at have a hunch that one of these days the angels could resurface to attempt recontact with Lilith, so we can get someone to create these beings to fight the angels until we can throw our plan into motion at the right place and at the right time."

"Yes, Keel." Nigel replies. "a bit more convoluted than I conceived, but it works."

"Exactly." Keel replies back.

* * *

Nigel, looking around the room, asks Keel, "So who should we hire to build these...vessels for our plan?"

Keel starts to think about possible candidates until he yells out, "What about the American child prodigy Naomi Mifune?"

"Keel, I may have commited many sins throughout my life, but I refuse to bring an innocent child into our master plan, no matter how brilliant he or she is." Nigel scoffs back, obviously disgusted that Keel would think of such a thing.

"But it's perfect." Keel replies. "If we manage to make her loyal enough, we can integrate her into SEELE without question when she gets older."

"No..no no no, Keel." Nigel continues to disagree. "I put my foot down to this terrible idea."

"Fine." Keel snorts back. "Who do you suggest to do it?"

"Well, I personally think Yui and Gendo Ikari could be great candidates for this, especially since they're been discussing in creating a weapon of war to combat the angels once they return." Nigel replies.

"The Ikaris?" Keel asks, sounding initially confused by his friend's suggestion, but then adds, "Yes I think they're exceptional candidates to look into."

"Exactly." Nigel replies back. "especially with their affiliations with Kozo Fuyutsuki and Naoko Akagi, they can really assist us into reaching our goal."

"Perfect." Keel replies, twisting his lips into a sinister grin. "So when do you suggest arranging a meeting with the Ikaris?"

"As soon as you get your artificial spine." Nigel replies. "We need you to convince them to help fund them making an organization to make these machines and military projects."

"Yes." Keel replies, then adds, "but when do you think the angels will return?"

"Only time will tell, my dear old friend." Nigel coldly replies. "Only time will tell."


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Nerv

_13 Years Later...

* * *

_

**Chapter 1: Welcome to Nerv

* * *

**

December 24th, 2014 10:15 PM

Iwanuma, Miyagi, Japan

* * *

In a mostly marsh and shrub covered streets, a fairly tidy, albeit a bit worn out due to age, and well treated house stands among other houses, with a roadway sprawling against the houses. The icy breeze and wind swiftly make the plants, trees and leaves come alive, swaying left and right throughout the shadowy night.

* * *

Inside the house in question, a dark charcol gray traveling bag falls roughly onto a bed decorated with dark blue sheets and a black pillow. The wallpaper of the room itself appears to be plain white with no special additional decorations plastered on it.

"Mom, dad. Why do I have to...well...leave now? Its Christmas Eve and I won't be able to spend it with you, why is that?". the voice of a teenage girl calls out of nowhere.

"I wish you could stay here for a little longer, but the Ikaris requested you to arrive in Tokyo-3 and join Nerv tomorrow, so you have to get to the plane soon", another voice spoke out and replied to the first voice, this one being of a middle aged woman.

"I know, I know mother. I am gonna be one of the protectors of the world from this..threat of sorts. I can't wait to start doing that, but I wanna spend one more day with you two, especially Christmas", the teenage girl replied back.

"Well, I know for one that you can't even open your christmas presents here anyways. We shipped that and all your belongings to your new living space. Heck, you should enjoy it more than living here, with you not bothering us with your loud music, guitaring, horror movies and video games", a third voice spoke out, this one being the voice of a man in his forties.

"Oh sweetie, don't worry about what your father said. He's just joking around, but he's right about the presents.", the middle aged woman spoke again. "regardless, we love you with all your hearts and love to have you around for one more day, but you need to get going to start your new life"

"Yeah. I probably will make friends and such in Tokyo-3, considering that I won't be alone in this job.", the teen girl replied to her mother as the sound of multiple footsteps were heard in the house.

The sound of a car pulling up and stopping in the road way was heard, proceeded by some honking from the horn of the same car.

"Looks like the Taxi is here, my darling daughter. We're sure going to miss you, though we'll get to see you next year", the mother told her daughter.

A pale skinned hand then reaches out and picks up the traveling bag off the bed, removing it from view. She then proceeds to say "I'll miss you both, mom and dad" and footsteps and a door opening and shutting. However, the door reopened again, with the teen asking "Did you guys packaged my bikini along with my other clothes?"

"Ummm...although I heard the weather in Tokyo-3 was very errantic, I figured you wouldn't need it until the summer", the mother replied.

"Oh well. Anyways, goodbye mom and dad. See you next year...and you two have a very merry Chirstmas!", the girl replied back and exited the house for the last time and made her way towards the Taxi while her parents waved at her.

* * *

After the girl got into the Taxi, her mother, still inside the house but looking out of the window, spoke out by saying "I hope she won't get herself hurt or worse...killed. I'm gonna be so worried sick now with her living out of town"

Her husband then replied "Oh don't worry, Gendo said that you have nothing to worry about. Our little angel is a big girl now and can take care of herself. She probably will enjoy the lack of our presence anyways"

"Satoshi, my love...she's only 13! Just because some still honor the old ways of the age barrier doesn't mean I would consider our daughter to be of age yet. She still has several years ahead of her before she's an adult", the wife replied back.

"Oh you and your love of the Americans, Kameko. They sure love to get into our damn noses all the time since The Second Impact and the wars that followed. I missed the days when us Japanese were separate from the Americans.", the husband scoffed in annoyance.

"And if they didn't come to assist us, we wouldn't have been as strong of a nation as we are now. All they did was repay us for what they did many years ago", the wife replied.

"Oh whatever. I don't feel like arguing anymore, its Christmas Eve and we gotta celebrate both the holiday and our daughter going off to protect the world from possible threats", the husband replied back, with his voice toning down a little to sounding less annoyed and more jolly, in which the two then continued the night by resuming their activities as their daughter embarked on her way to her new home, her new life and job. A job that will ensure her new friends, rivals and plenty of intrigue and action, as well as some unexpected turn of events that she is not expecting to face at all.

* * *

A good eight hours have passed since the girl had taken a Tax ride to the local Airport, waited in both a line and a lengthy waiting time to get onto the plane and fly towards her destination and new home.

* * *

At 6:13 AM, Christmas Day, the teen girl had arrived in the Airport near Tokyo-3. She, along with her traveling bag, had exited from the plane, along with her fellow passengers.

* * *

As she walks through the main lobby of the airport, she is surrounded by a vast array of other folks, complete sound of feet shuffling echoing all over the lobby on the marble floor. It is also revealed that she is wearing jeans and some sneakers, despite the rest of her body being obscured by the surrounding passerbys.

Out of nowhere, a voice of a teenage boy around the age of 16 asks "Hey babe. Did you dye your hair like that or is it a wig?"

"No. I was born like that", the voice of the teenage girl replies immediately with a slight hint of embarrassment and mild irritation in her voice.

It is then finally revealed that the teen is a 13 year old girl that noticeably sticks out like a sore thumb. Slender, well-built and dressed in a leather biker jacket as well as sporting a black tank top that's visible, due to the fact the jacket is unzipped aside from her jeans and sneakers. Her hair, styled in an iconic, unique bob, is a somewhat darker shade of baby blue as well as her ruby red eyes and pale skin separates her from the crowd with an exotic and unparalleled angelic aurora of sheer beauty. Even more unique is that her facial features are Caucasian, even furthering her apart from the others, since she's a citizen of Japan.

"Wow. Never met a chick with natural blue hair. You must be pretty lucky, then.", the boy replied back. He then reached his hand out for a handshake and asked "anyways, nice to meet you. My name is Kashiro Wakayama, what's yours?"

The girl then shook Kashiro's hand as she replied "My names is Rei Ayanami. Nice to meet you too, Kashiro.". The two then moved their corresponding hand away from the other.

"So, Rei. What'cha doing here? Moving out of Tokyo-3 or just visiting some relatives?", Kashiro asked Rei in a curious tone as they stood in the lobby.

"Actually, i'm moving here. I am going to be one of the designated pilots for Nerv's plan to keep the world safe from impending doom", Rei replied as she smiled at Kashiro.

"Wow. You sure are a brave babe. I'm actualy leaving to go back home to my folks in Tokyo-2, but I will say that Tokyo-3...is quite the place. Not really the safest and most beautiful of places, even compared to the slums of Old Tokyo, but I can see the appeal, especially for a gal like you who has to live there because of work, especially a job like that", Kashiro admitted, with a sense of impressment in his voice.

"Yeah, I know. If only I didn't have to leave home on Christmas Eve", Rei replied, with a slight hint of disappointment in her voice.

"That sucks. Its Christmas and I promised to go back to mom and pa's today to celebrate Christmas, so I better get going, Ms. Ayanami", Kashiro told Rei as he looked as his cellphone, realizing what time it is.

"Yeah, I better get going. I'm supposed to take the subway to Tokyo-3 and go meet up with this guy that's supposed to pick me up and take me to Nerv.", Rei informed Kashio.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Rei. Be careful out there and I hope we run into each other again. Bye!", Kashio replied as he began to walk towards the entrance of the plane boarding section of the lobby and waved at Rei.

"You too, Kashiro. Same here. Till next time", Rei replied to Kashiro and waved at him as she headed her way towards the exit of the airport.

* * *

Rei, with her sole traveling bag being hold firmly in hand, continued to walk, as she passed by some monolithic buildings, with her body cutting through the ice cold wind of the winter as it made her hair sway against her head, as well as the morning light breaking through the darkness, making Rei's journey all the more ominous and adventurous.

* * *

Rei then finally arrived at the subway station, which had a glass display of the subway's various destinations. She peered her eye at the display, taking note of that the subway does make a stop at Tokyo-3, bringing her much needed relief. She then spent about a minute standing in the subway station, only to spot the subway itself arriving. She then walked into the subway itself alongside other passerbys.

* * *

Inside, she payed for her ticket and took a seat. Once situated in one of the subway's seats, she pulls her CD player out of her traveling bag, puts in a CD copy of Megadeth's "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying", places her headphones on her head, plays her CD player and pulls out an issue of Fangoria out to read it simultaneously with listening to the CD.

Without warning, as she was in the "Black Friday" part of the song "Good Mourning/Black Friday", she decided to turn the volume of her CD player down to pay attention to any possible announcements from the subway conductor. She then heard a voice speaking from the subway's speaker boxes announcing "Current stop. Tokyo-3. I repeat, Current stop. Tokyo-3".

Realizing that this is her cue, Rei then quickly shut off her CD player, shoved her CD player, headset and magazine into the traveling bag, followed by standing up and leaving the subway, entering the station itself and eventually, walking out of the station to find herself surfacing into a grungy, waste filled street corner.

* * *

Rei then stopped nearby a badly stained and decaying pillar surrounded by trash and tiny pools of dirty water and proceeded to pull out a piece of writing paper that was neatly folded. She then promptly unfolded the paper, revealing not only plenty of handwriting on the paper, but also a photograph of a ponytailed man with a distinctive five o' clock shadow on a beach, sitting on a beach chair with his legs sprawled out, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, royal blue swimming trunks with a large green line on each side of the legs, flip flops, holding a water bottle on one hand and having the other in a thumbs up expression, all while sporting the coolest, most laid back grin ever, complementing the overall coolness of the pic.

Rei, while surprised by the pic, chuckled a little, but read a note written on the pic in black permanent marker. "Hey Rei. Can't wait to meet you and take you to Nerv. Signed, Kaji."

"Kaji, eh? Looks like a cool enough dude...if only he met up with me at the airport", Rei informed herself, with her voice starting to be impressed, but only downgrading to a slightly irritated grunt. She then removed the picture and peered into the note.

"Hey Rei. Sorry that I couldn't pick you at the airport. Traffic is heinous on Christmas day, so instead, I want you to meet me in the industrial sector. There, i'll pick you up and we can do our day's duties. Still can't wait to meet you. Heard great things about you from the Ikaris. Signed, Kaji", the note read.

"Oooookay, then. Guess I got to hurry", Rei added after she read the note. She then placed both the note and the photo into her traveling bag and proceeded to walk among the industrial waste and rot of the street again.

* * *

As Rei walked, she took massive notice of the infrastructural rot among her of the streets. Cans, debris, dirt, garbage, bottles, water holes, cracks on the pavement, decaying buildings, small huts made out of recycled goods, barred up windows, broken windows, blood stains on cracked walls, graffiti and many other assorted sets of dismay on display, all especially complemented by the ice dead cold of the weather, with the breezes flowing by like razor blades to the flesh. She continued to walk through the street of visual despair, in which she took notice of several odd sights. One being a graffiti on a huge granite wall painted sickly green that read, "Seele is Watchin You..."

"Seele? What's that? Odd name", Rei pondered to herself while standing still and rolling her eyes around. She then decided to continue walking, focusing more importance on getting to the designated rendezvous point to be picked up by that Kaji person.

* * *

Rei continued to walk away, making her way through more trashy, crumbling buildings on the street. She the suddenly heard a loud buzzing noise nearby her, which subsequently made her shift her head towards the direction of the buzzing, leading her to gaze on a ghastly sight of a swarm of flies hovering and on top of what appeared to be the mangled, pus and maggot ridden corpse of a Japanese Bobtail. Rei freaks out over the sight and goes running full speed directionless, until she accidentally dives body first into several bags of plastic bottles, causing some of said bottles to fly out and pierce a hole through the plastc bags holding them.

* * *

Rei, after laying on the bags of plastic bottles for a few seconds, gets off of the bags, still firmly holding onto her traveling bag, and takes a run for it to get away from the repungant area around her.

* * *

After leaving that grungy little section full of repulsive rust, decay and waste, Rei continues to make her way to the rendezvous point. To keep herself on her feet, she chuckles and jokes to herself about the rotten sight of dead kitty. Little to her knowledge, a car nearby is slowly driving by her, with the perspective of the driver supposedly leering at Rei in a voyeuristic matter. When Rei simply does not take notice, the unseen driver decides to make her take notice by honking the car horn.

Hearing the deafening blare of a car horn pierce her earlobes, Rei takes a sudden turn towards the direction of the horn and sees a rare red 1976 model Daihatsu Consorte parked nearby her. As she has her eyes gazing on it, a rather familiar man exits out of the car, dressed in a blue business shirt with the sleeves rolled, brown slacks, shiny black business shoes and a red tie, and stands by his awe-inspiring vehicle that would have many collectors drooling in excitement.

Rei spots the guy standing by his car and calls out to him to ask, "Kaji? Wern't we supposed to meet at a special rendezvous point? Or is this the rendezvous point?"

"Well...yeah, but I was driving around to see if I should be at a certain spot, but I saw you having a close encounter of the rotting kind, so I decided to follow you as much as I could...and I take it you saw the pic of me on my trip to Hawaii a year ago, right?", Kaji replied and asked while expressing a slight grin in his face. He also seems to be unscathed by the ice cold breeze that's flowing through the street.

"Yeah, indeed.", Rei responded with a slight chuckle in her voice. She then added "say...aren't you bothered by the chill in the air?"

"Oh, that. A little, but once you get to Tokyo-3, it sure won't feel like the dead of winter to you. In fact, it'll feel like you just stepped into a summer resort like no other, along with the occassional rain storms here and there", Kaji replied back, with his voice expressing sheer enthusiasm over the weather in Tokyo-3.

"Wow...i'll take your word for it, Kaji. Now...from what I understand, I had to come here, on Christmas day, to join Nerv for the Ikaris and I have to get there as soon as possible, so...I guess we hit the road?", Rei informed and asked Kaji as they stood by the car in the street by the car.

"Oh, that's right. I gotta bring you to Nerv and show you all the locales of your new home, Ayanami, Put your bag in the back seat and get in the car, we're going to Tokyo-3", Kaji boasted at Rei as he got in the driver seat of his car. Rei herself followed, getting into the front passenger side, placing her traveling bag on one of the back seats, sat on the passenger seat, shut the door and sat as Kaji made the car drove off and headed its way to Tokyo-3.

* * *

As Kaji drove the car to Tokyo-3, he asked Rei, "So...you just arrived here on Christmas of all days, eh? Kinda a drag if you ask me"

"Yeah. It totally sucks, but at least i'll get to meet some new people now", Rei replied as she lounged on the passenger car seat and sighed a little

"I guess that it has to do with how much the Ikaris are waiting to see you again, since I do, after all, work at Nerv for them..", Kaji replied, despite not turning his head towards Rei, since he was too busy focusing on the road and directions he took.

"I can imagine. Especially since they saved my life during my stay at...say...what happened to Gehrim? I've been wondering why its Nerv and not Gehrim", Rei asked Kaji with a strong sense of curiosity in her tone and voice.

"Well...from what they've told me, they needed to be bigger, badder and better and that point, Gehrim was a piecemeal sized company, too primitive and small for their goals, so Nerv was born.", Kaji explained to Rei. Curious about what Rei was about to say before she asked about the name thing, he then added by asking her, "now...what were you gonna say about the Ikaris saving your life?"

"Oh...that?", Rei replied, with a slight sense of reservation to respond in her voice. She wiggled her fingers around as she sat in the passenger car seat, now being rather quiet, breathing heavily and shifting her eyes around in a rather nervous manner.

"What's wrong, Rei? Do you want to explain about it or is it something you rather keep to yourself?", Kaji calmfully asked Rei in a concerned tone.

"I rather not talk about it right now.", Rei quietly responded as her breathing returned to normal and stopped showing possible signs of becoming a sudden nervous wreck.

"Okay then, Rei. If its too personal, we can just leave it there.", Kaji responded back as he reached his left arm out and patted Rei on the back.

Rei then told Kaji, "I will tell you that mom, dad and the Ikaris go way back from what I heard and that is one of the reasons why I know them and they know me", while exposing a slight smile on her face.

"Well, that's a rather interesting tidbit to hear. Never knew that", Kaji replied, sounding a bit impressed and surprised. He then remebered something else and asked Rei "well, have you ever met The Ikaris' son? His name is Shinji, if memory serves me correct. Ever met him?"

"I'm afraid now, Kaji. Then again, I have wonder what he is like for a while now since mom told me that they had a son around my age", Rei replied back, with her smile looking more warm than before.

* * *

Out of nowhere, the loud sound of two large doors opening was heard, prompting Kaji to inform Rei "Well, we're here at Nerv now. Grab your bag and exit the car. The Ikaris will be waiting for us"

Rei, taking Kaji's advice, reached for her traveling bag in the back seat, grabbed it, pulled it out to the front and got out of the car with it in hand to stand by Kaji.

They stood on a escaltor-esque platform that was moving on a straight path. Kaji then turned to Rei and told her, "Well, at least you should be thankful that I transported you here and not my ex." in a very cheeky, sarcastic tone.

"What's wrong with your ex?", Rei turned towards Kaji and responded, being a bit interested in hearing about Kaji's ex.

"Well...ehhh...you'll get to meet her eventually. She'll be your commanding officer on the missions to come", Kaji responded while sporting a slightly goofy look on his face.

* * *

Another set of large metal doors creaked open, revealing a lobby of sorts. Various metallic, porcelain and concrete structures and walls adorn the lobby, complete with more steel doors and walkways. Standing in front of Kaji and Rei was a man and a woman. The woman appeared to be at the age of 37, wearing a white scientist coat, a pink female buisiness shirt, a royal blue knee length skirt and black high heels. Most notable aspects of her is her hair, which is a brown colored bob eerily and uncannily similar to Rei's and her teal blue eyes. The man, who appears to be age 47, is wearing dark orange shades, a black commander, black slacks, black business shoes, white gloves and a red shirt underneath the commander jacket. His black short hair has a slight scruffy nature to it and has a noticeable Abraham Lincoln-esque beard.

As Rei and Kaji stand in front of the two adults, the woman, showing a big, happy smile joyfully blurts "My goodness, Rei. It's been such a long time. You sure have grown into such a beautiful teen."

"Wow, Mrs. Ikari. Its nice to see you again too. How time flies by, eh?", Rei replied in a happy tone with a smile on her face and walks up to Mrs. Ikari to give her a hug.

After Rei and Mrs. Ikari finished hugging, the man looked at Rei and informed her "Anyways, Rei, we got a lot to do today. For now on, you're a member of Nerv. You and the others, once they arrive, will be encased with the task of protecting our headquarters, Tokyo-3 and the world from the threat of The Angels once they arrive"

"Ange...Ange...Angels? You mean I will be fighting...angels, Mr. Ikari?", Rei confusingly asked Mr. Ikari with a surprised, confused and befuddled look on her face.

"Well...not the kind of angels you're thinking of. These angels are far different from what a traditional concept of an angel is. With that said, you will be the pilot of an biomechanical organism. An Evangelion. The key to the protection of humanity", Mrs. Ikari informs Rei "In fact, you'll be meeting your EVA soon."

Mr. Ikari then looks at Kaji and informs him "Kaji, you are excused."

As Kaji walks towards, he then calls out to Rei to tell her, "Once you're done for the day, i'll show you your new school and your new home. Till then, i'll see you later and Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too!", Rei replies as she waves at Kaji as he walks away and as she's escorted by the Ikaris to her Evangelion.


	3. Chapter 2: Meet Unit 00

**Chapter 2: Meet Unit 00**

**

* * *

  
**

As the Ikaris escort Rei to show her EVA to her, they all strike up a conversation

------

"So, why Christmas of all days?", Rei asked

"Well...we needed your services as quickly as possible, so we decided to have you show up here on this very day.", Yui replied. "Anyways, even though its been four years, it sure doesn't feel that way" Yui talked to Rei.

"Yeah. Since then, I haven't done much. I've taken up guitar lessons, got onto heavy metal and horror films. You know, stuff you wouldn't expect a girl to like, but hey. As my folks tell me...at least I don't follow the crowd.", Rei replies

"Heh. That's perhaps because you're way too special to be part of a crowd with the way you look. You're way too beautiful and unique to be part of any crowd", Yui remarked

Gendo stayed quiet, only to shrug to himself "Eh. Girl Talk"

Rei then asked "Anyways. So, from what I remember, you two have a son. When will I get to meet him?"

Both Yui & Gendo stopped. While Gendo did not respond, Yui, on the other hand, quickly replied. "Oh, you mean Shinji? Well, you two will be meeting each other in a few months, but for now we just need you and the fifth."

"Okay. First Kaji, now you. WHO IS the Fifth?", Rei then asked, in hope of a response that would satisfy her curiosity."

"Well...at the moment, she and Unit 05 are busy doing underground guard watch. That's her job. She's the underground security here. However, you'll meet her in your first day of school tomorrow. She's a very nice girl. The two of you will sure make good friends.", Yui calmfully replied

Gendo then spoke up and said "Alright, Rei. We're here."

They had come into a room completely shrouded in darkness.

"Dr. Akagi...HIT THE LIGHTS!", Yui then commanded

"Yes, Yui", she responded back.

"What! Akagi?!?", Rei then pondered to herself. Even though Naoko has been dead for years, her daughter Ritsuko has taken her place.

All of a sudden, the lights turned on, revealing a giant purple, horned face.

"Oh wow. So this is my Evangelion, eh? Looks awesome.", Rei mutters in enjoyment

"No, Rei.", Gendo replies. "This is Unit 01. me and Yui's son's Evangelion. However, for the most part, it's completely useless."

Yui nods & tells Rei "Yeah. When my son comes, this will be the Evangelion he'll be piloting. Anyways, let's move on and introduce you to your EVA"

They then walk towards another head of a towering giant. This one is a cyclops with an orange paint job on its armor. Once Rei sees that this is, in fact, her designated Evangelion, she then disappointingly mutters "Orange? Why orange?"

"What's wrong? You don't like Zero's color scheme?", Yui then responds in surprise

"Yeah. It looks cool and all, but why such an ugly color like orange? Hell, compared to your son's designated Evangelion, mine looks a little...lame.", Rei then sulks.

Yui sighs, then responds "Well, Rei. If something happens to it in the line of duty that requires us to repair it, we promise that we'll make it look cool. Just for you."

Rei turns her head and says "Really? Heck. Even in its bare bones state, a color like say....blue would be so much more suitable."

Gendo and Yui then look at each other. Yui then whispers "Man, we really should have given Zero the proper equipment, but no. Instead, you insisted that we give Unit 01 all of the fancy armor, regardless of the fact that you know that it doesn't have a soul, thus making it mostly useless."

"The thing is that Unit 01 is my son's Evangelion and that making it look presentable would be the best way of showing that I have gave a damn about him all these years", Gendo growls

"Seriously, that's pathetic. I always visit Shinji once a month and yet, YOU don't take the time to even call him. Why is that? He's your son as well. Why not you actually show some signs that you do care for him once he gets here.", Yui responds in disgust

Gendo then plants his hands on Yui's shoulders and tells her "We don't need to do this now. Not in front of the First, okay?"

Yui then shifts her hands through her husband's arms, then replies "Alright." and nods.

Both Ikaris then shift their attention back towards Rei. Yui then tells her "Well...sorry about that. We got more important matters to deal with right now. Especially you, Rei, since you're new here."

"Well...okay. You two arguing didn't really bother me. Hell, I hear my folks go at it all the time. Even I myself gets caught in the crossfire at times as well", Rei then responds

Both Ikaris pause for a second. Gendo then tells her "Well...before you do anything else, you must watch the Nerv Instructional Video. Its mandatory for all new employees of Nerv, regardless of what position and job you have here. We'll escort you to the screening room." as he and Yui escort Rei to the Video Screening room.

* * *

Inside, she sits down on a chair while being surrounded by a wide variety of empty metal fold-up chairs. A man in his early 60s wearing a brown uniform steps up in front of the projection screen and tells Rei "In case you're wondering who I am, my name is Kozo Fuyutsuki. I work alongside Yui and Gendo Ikari as one of the higher ups of Nerv Japan. Even though I know this instructional video is terrible, all of you, including those, like you, Rei, who are here to pilot the Evangelions, are required to watch it once. Now, as soon as I walk out of this room, the video will play. You must watch it from beginning to end or else"

Rei raises her hand and asks Fuyutsuki "Well...one thing i'm curious about is how long this video is?"

"If memory serves me correct, its only 15-20 minutes long (Though it sure doesn't feel that way), so you won't suffer for too long.", Fuyutsuki informs Rei as he then steps out of the screening room and walks away.

The room then darkens and all of a sudden, the projection screen lights up, which signals that the video has now begun playing. On the screen came a man. He then says "Hi there. If you're watching this tape, that means you have just joined Nerv. For the next twenty minutes, I and my friends will be telling you the basics on your stay here at Nerv."

"Uuugh.", Rei groans as the inane cheesiness of the video sinks in with bad synth music.

* * *

About 19 minutes pass and the video is close to completion.

------

"and with that said, we hope that with the basic knowledge you have gained from watching this video, you'll be more efficient at working for Nerv. See you around!", the man waves as the image fades into a copyright notice screen

"So you just faced the wrath of Nerv's humble beginnings", the voice of a British teenage girl then speaks out

Rei raises her head and sees a teenage girl with long flowing brunette pigtails, wearing red-rimmed glasses, a white shirt with an aqua blue tie hanging on it, a corresponding aqua blue headband, a plaid skirt, royal blue stockings and brown loafers standing by the room's door, illuminated in the shadows.

"See you around", the girl then tells to Rei and walks off. Rei, curious about who this gal is, stands up and tries to follow her by leaving the room, only to see that she has vanished.

"Could that been the Fifth?", Rei pondered to herself, only to jump in fright after feeling someone patting her shoulder.

"Whoa. I didn't expect that I would startle you.", the man laughed

"Oh, its you, Kaji", Rei responded after seeing who had startled her. "So, it's time for me to see what my new school and home looks like?"

"Well..yeah, but the Ikaris have told me that they wanted you to meet someone. She's quite vital to you children and the EVAs.", Kaji responded.

"Who exactly is that?", Rei asked in confusion

"Actually, while Yui Ikari is heavily involved with the EVAs, this woman frequently works alongside her in the science department and is the curator of the MAGI.", Kaji responded. "Come on, let's meet her."

Kaji and Rei then walk towards a room that appears to be a lab & sees a blonde haired woman in a lab coat.

"Hey Rits. Here's the First Child. The Ikaris wanted you two to meet.", Kaji joyfully tells the blonde scientist

She then turns around & sees Rei, in which both of them suddenly are take aback by each other's sight.

While the blonde woman is a bit shocked to see the girl, Rei, on the other hand, has suddenly turned from being happy to being angry at the sight of the woman.

"Your mother tried to kill me four year ago, Ritsuko", Rei then growled.

"Please. Don't blame me for what my mother did to you", a worried sounding Ritsuko told Rei. "I'm not like her. I'm serious, i'm not anything like her at all."

Rei then sighed and replied "Okay. I did remember that you were quite nice to me on that faithful day"

"Oh, come on! You don't remember that I helped Yui to comfort you after she and Gendo found you being strangled? Seriously, I was there to help you get better before your parents came back to pick you up...or at least I tried my best", Ritsuko responded.

"You did?", Rei replied back. "The thing is that I was only nine years old when that happened, so I perhaps forgot the other details of what happened at my stay at Gehrim. I forgive you."

"Oh good, Rei. I seriously do not want the past butting its head in our operations here when the angels return", Ritsuko responded.

"So...what exactly are the angels?", Rei asked.

"Oh. You'll see when the come", Ritsuko replied. "You'll see."

Kaji then walked up behind Ritsuko without her realizing it and said "Hey Rits. Maybe later we can have dinner."

"Oh...maybe.", Ritsuko responded "But don't you have to finish your business with Rei first?"

"Of course I have to. I did, in fact, had in mind that I would finish my matter with the First, then we have dinner", Kaji replied back.

He then walked towards Rei & told her "Alrighty. Since it's getting late, we need to show you the two other places of importance of you in Tokyo-3"

Rei then followed him as they then headed back to the car.

* * *

24 minutes later, they have left Nerv HQ. Kaji then pulls up to a campus and points to it, telling Rei "Okay, Rei. When you get up tomorrow, this will be the school you'll be attending. Every day, you go here and once school lets out, you go back to Nerv unless you're not required to do so."

Rei then asks "So...when the other pilots arrive, they'll be attending here as well?"

"Correct. You're such a smart girl", Kaji replies as he pats her on the head. "Now, Last stop. Your new home"

He then drives to an apartment complex in the industrial area. The throbbing banging of the refinery can even be heard from inside the car.

"Gee...I guess I can drown out the noise with my music, right?", Rei asks

"Oh. the noise won't be a problem at all, Rei. The walls in each apartment room is soundproof, so neither the noise the factories make will bother you, nor the noise you make will bother the others.", Kaji tells her.

:"Great. So I guess that means we'll see each other tomorrow, right?", Rei asks Kaji

"Well, Rei. I'm only going to be around for a few days before I have to go out to Germany to look over the Second Child until she's asked to transfer here.", Kaji replied. "That'll be...fun."

"So. Who's exactly is the Second? What is she like?", Rei asked Kaji

"Well...she's quite intelligent for one thing....and she's got the hots for me", Kaji replied. He then whispered to himself "At least Rei here isn't getting all crazy about me like she does."

"What's that you said, Kaji?", Rei asked him.

"Oh, nothing", Kaji replied with a minor nervous look. He then gave Rei a piece of paper and a pair of keys as he told her "Well, here's the number to your apartment. Its #402. Hopefully you'll be able to find it easily"

"Don't worry, I will." Rei replied back.

"Well...until then, see you tomorrow!". Kaji replied as he walked away

"Same here", Rei responded as she then walked through the main entrance of the apartment complex

* * *

About two minutes of searching, she had finally come across her apartment room.

------

"Room 402. Interesting", Rei muttered as she stood by the doorway. She then pulled out the key to her apartment and unlocked the door. She then shut the door behind her, took off her shoes & then stepped completely into the apartment room. She then flicked on the lights to see a vast array of packaging boxes scattered around the room. She carefully made her way through the armies of boxes and found a letter on the blank wall that said "Here's all of your belongings. Your parents had sent them over here while you flew here. They said to make yourself at home"

"Heh. Mom and dad. Thanks", she nodded to herself as she set the letter down. "Man, this is going to take days to unpack. Better get started now than late."


	4. Chapter 3: New Surroundings, New People

**Chapter 3: New Surroundings, New People

* * *

**

As the evening went by, Rei had unpacked a good portion of her belongings from both the boxes and her traveling bag. She has also hung up her leather jacket in the room's closet so it wouldn't get messed up.

However, she then saw a box marked "Rei's Television", in which she muttered to herself "Shit. I can't lift that son of a bitch myself. Maybe i'll meet some people tomorrow who can help me out, so let's see what else I can unpack instead".

She then runs by another box that says "Rei's Guitar" and says "There we go. My guitar!", opens it and takes it and its amp out.

She then plugs the amp into the wall, then plugs the guitar into the amp and starts strumming with a pic in hand.

* * *

For about 10 minutes, she plays whatever comes to her head, even attempting to perform a made-up solo, only to break one of the strings.

"Shit.", she blurts out after the string broke. "I wonder if anyone else around town plays guitar. Maybe i'll ask at school tomorrow."

She then sets her guitar down, opens her traveling bag and pulls out her cellphone and looks at it.

"11:46 PM?!? Damn. I need to get some sleep. I got quite an eventful day ahead for myself.", she muttered to herself, in which she then proceeded to pull out a pair of pajamas to wear for bed.

She then proceeded to strip down only to bra and panties. She then put her pajamas on, turned the lights off and layed in bed to rest her eyes and fall asleep.

* * *

"Hi. This is Rei Ayanami. She's the daughter of old friends from college", Yui Ikari tells a short haired brunette woman wearing a lab coat

"Hiya. I'm Rei. Nice to meet ya", a nine year old Rei introduces herself to said woman

"Well, its nice to meet you too, Rei. My name is Dr. Naoko Akagi. I work with Yui, so the two of us need to get to some important matters, so why not you go with my daughter while you leave us grownups to do our work", Naoko politely told Rei. She then nugged her head into a different direction and yelled out "RITSUKO! Come out here and watch this child for the two of us!"

"Alright, mother, i'm coming.", Ritsuko called back out. Her voice is somewhat different than it is in current times, perhaps due to it being unharmed by tobacco consumption or its consumption has yet to take its toll.

All of a sudden, a somewhat younger looking Ritsuko walks into view, sees Rei and says "Hi there, young one. I am Naoko's daughter Ritsuko. What's your name?"

the 9 year old Rei giggles, then replies "My name is Rei Ayanami. I am nine years old. Can you play with me?"

Ritsuko, after seeing Rei sporting a big, adorable smile, then takes her hand and says "Follow me. We'll play a game of hide and seek. How does that sound?"

"Oh boy, I love hide and seek", Rei replies. "I play it with mommy and daddy all the time"

"That's good to here", Ritsuko replied with a smile.

* * *

Inside the lounge room of Gehrim, Ritsuko tells Rei "Alright, Rei. You count to 30 with your eyes closed while I go and hide. After you're done counting to 30, you must go and find me, okay?"

"Cool. So, I start counting?", Rei asks

"Yes, but you also need to close your eyes as well", Ritsuko replies

"Okay!", Rei joyfully responds. She then puts her hands over her face and starts counting to 30. Ritsuko then walks away to look for a place to hide.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10", Rei counts as her hands as covering her eyes shut.

Ritsuko, while walking around, finds a fairly easy to find corner to hide by. 'I hope she can find me easily and not get lost", Ritsuko muttered in a worried tone.

"25, 26, 27, 28...29...30! Ready or not, here I come!", Rei then giggled as she moved her hands away from her face & began to skip out of the room.

"La la la la la la", Rei chanted as she frolicked through the hallways of Gehrim. However, she immediately stopped as she saw an open door with a shadow of a woman standing in the room

"Could she be in...HERE!?!", Rei yelled in joy as she then jumped into the room, only to see Naoko standing in the room, mumbling something to herself.

"Hello.", Rei called out to Naoko. She did not respond.

"Miss Naoko, are you okay?", Rei asked her in a concerned tone.

"Did you just call me Old Hag?", Naoko sternly growled.

"Ummmm...no, Miss Naoko.", Rei replied in confusion.

"Did...you, just call me 'OLD HAG?!?', Rei?!?", Naoko growled in response.

Rei suddenly began to shake in fear, whimpering out "You're scaring me."

"If you call me old hag ONE MORE TIME, you'll be in big trouble!", Naoko barked out in a deranged, trance-like matter

Tears began to flow through Rei's eyes as she then slumped down and cried "Ma..ma...mommy, daddy. I'm scared. I need help!"

All of a sudden, Naoko suddenly darted towards Rei and grabbed her by the neck with both hands, strangling her.

and then...she woke up, gasping and panting.

* * *

The dream had caused her to break a sweat, resulting in her pajamas to be slightly wet. Rei then realized that she's back in her apartment room that's filled with unopened packages containing.

She then placed her left hand firmly on her chest and stroked her face with her right hand.

------

"I...I certainly hoped not to remember that again", Rei mutters as she tries to calm herself down.

She then grabbed her cellphone to check the time

"6:56 AM? Shit.", she tells herself. "I need to get ready before Kaji comes by to take me to school."

Rei then jumps out of bed and run towards a bag that contains the words "Bathing Accessories" on it. She opens it up, pulls out a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, as well as a bar of soap. She then runs towards the bathroom, sets them down and runs back to the livinig room. She then opens another box containing wash rags and towels and pulls out exactly one towel and one wash rag to use. She then runs back to the bathroom, strips down to her birthday suit, grabs the bar of soap, the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and steps inside the shower. She then starts up the showing and begins to clean herself up.

* * *

After taking a shower, she wraps the towel around her naked body and opens the bathroom accessories box again, this time pulling out a toothbrush and toothpaste. After she grabs said items, she runs back to the bathroom yet again. This time, however, she stands by the sink, squeezes some toothpaste out of its tube onto the toothbrush and starts to brush her teeth.

* * *

After brushing her teeth, she then takes the towel off, dries her hair with it and tosses it on the bathroom floor. She then grabs her traveling bag and puts on black bra and panties.

She then decides to take a look inside another cabinet, only to find something wrapped in black in there. She pulls it out, sees a note on that the reads "Your New School Uniform" and opens it up.

The bag reveals a white shirt, a blue one piece skirt, a red ribbon, black socks and white loafers.

------

"Eh. So this is my new school uniform.", Rei mutters. She then sets it aside, finds another box with the word "Clothes" written on it. She opens it up and pulls out a different school uniform, which consists of a white shirt, a red tie, a beige vest, a dark grey skirt and its own black socks and white loafers.

She then sets both school uniforms side by side each other and mutters "Well...lets see. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, i'll wear the new uniform and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, i'll wear my old uniform. Since today is Monday, the new uniform it is."

She then grabs the new school uniform, puts it on and says "At least it fits me. That's all it matters, since I don't really care about wearing these damn things."

Now that she's all ready, she sits by, waiting for Kaji to arrive to drop her off at school. Her first day of school in Tokyo-3.

For what seems to be about 10 minutes of sitting around, she then hears the doorbell go off

------

"Come inside.", Rei responds.

The door opens up to reveal Kaji, still wearing the clothes he wore the other day. He then asks Rei "So, you're ready for your first day at your new school?"

"Absolutely", she responds.

"Okay then", Kaji replies "Let's get going."

Rei then gets her shoes on and follows Kaji out of the apartment room. After she closes the door, she locks it with her keys and follows Kaji to his car.

* * *

As Kaji drives, he then asks Rei "By the way, there's something I like to know about you that's been bugging me since yesterday"

"Was is that?", Rei replies

"Your hair. Why is it blue? Did you dye it or are you wearing a wig?", Kaji replies back

"Here we go again as always", Rei grumbles to herself. She then responds "Well, as my parents have always told me, I was born that way."

"You're serious?", Kaji replies, dumbfounded by what he just heard "There's no way at all that blue is your natural hair color"

"It is. Trust me, if mom and pops were here, they would defend my statement till the end. My mother, in fact, gave birth to me and said that ever since my hair grew in, it was always like that.", Rei quickly replied

Stunned by the information he received, Kaji then said "Well...you're lucky. You're certainly a one of a kind. Sure, i've seen people born with natural red hair, but not blue. Its just...awesome."

"Well, thank you, Kaji. I like to hear people say that its awesome that my hair is naturally blue. Too bad a few rotten eggs back in Elementary School didn't find my hair color to be awesome", Rei responds with a slight frown. "But even then, virtually everyone I met found it cool that my hair is blue."

"Well, that's nice to hear", Kaji replied "At least you're in middle school these days, right?"

"Yup. I guess you figured that one out by calculating how old I am", Rei responded

"Obviously.", Kaji smirked as he replied. He then pulled up by the school and told Rei "Alright, here's the school. I'll be back when you get out."

"Alright.", Rei responded. As she got out of the car, she then turned to him and asked "So...when are you going to leave for Germany?"

"In a week. That means that starting next week, you're going to have to walk to and back from school and Nerv all by yourself. You think you can manage to do that without my held?", Kaji replied

"Absolutely. I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself.", Rei remarked. "However, since i'm still new here, I appreciate your help on getting me used to the surroundings"

"You're welcome.", Kaji replied.

As he was about to leave, Rei then remembered her situation back at her apartment room with the packages and asked Kaji "By the way. When we're done with all the stuff today, can you help me unpack and get my room all spiffed up?"

"Sure thing, Rei." Kaji immediately responded "Now you might want to hurry up and not be late to class, okay?"

"Alrighty then...bye", Rei replied as she waved goodbye and ran towards her classroom.

* * *

After Rei found her class, Kaji then muttered to himself "That kid sure is nice. I liker him. Smart, spunky and likeable. I wish I could be her guardian". He then picks up a file that has a photo of a teenage girl with long red head, two bright red things on her head that appear to be hair clips and is wearing a yellow dress. As soon as he looks at the picture, he gulps and mutters to himself "Oh man. I have to be her guardian until she's needed to be transferred her." and proceeds to groan.

* * *

"Class 2-A. So this is my classroom.", Rei replies as she stands in front of the door of the classroom. She then opens the door and sees a bunch of other kids in there, as well as an old man, who she assumes to be the teacher.

She then walks towards the old man and tells him "Excuse me."

"Yes.", the old man asks

"Ummmm...my name is Rei Ayanami. I am transferring here from Iwanuma, Miyagi.", Rei tells the old man.

"Well...take any seat you see. I'll supply you a list of what supplies you need at the end of day.", the old man replies.

Rei then sits down on a vacant chair near by a window and remarks "Well...since school is always a bore, I might as well sit by where I can get a view of the world"

She then stairs out of the window for about a minute until someone clamps down their hands on Rei's shoulders and says "Look who joined class", startling her in the process

Rei then recognized the girl's voice, due to her british accent, turned around and said "Whoa. You made me jump"

Standing by her was the same teenage girl she saw by the screening room the day before.

"So you're the First Child, eh? I've been waiting to meet you.", the girl then tells Rei

"Yup, that's me." Rei replied "My name is Rei Ayanami, so what's your name?"

"Well, nice to meet you, Rei", the girl responded back. She then struck a pose and said "My name is Mari Illustrious Makinami. I transferred here all the way from Blackpool, England several months ago"

"Mari, sit your ass down.", the voice of another teenage growls.

Mari then turns her attention towards a girls with freckles and black pigtails and replies "Sorry, class rep. I was introducing myself to my new coworker. I thought that wouldn't be a problem at all"

"You can do that AFTER class", the class rep replied with a sneer.

"Fine", Mari groaned, in which she then sat next to Rei in a vacant chair of her own. Mari then quietly muttered "Hikari. Piss off"

After that, Mari then shifter her attention back towards Rei and said "Well...since class is in session, we can resume our introduction later."

"Yeah. That's fine with me. The last thing I want to do is pick a fight with Little Bo Peep on my first day here", Rei responded.

"Don't worry about Hikari.", Mari cheerfully replied. "She does that to everyone that tries to have some sort of fun around here in class. Poor Toji and Kensuke over there are even bigger targets to her wrath of authority"

"Damn. I hope I don't get in her way during my stay here.", Rei responded.

* * *

On the other side of the room, two boys were ogling at their new classmate. One has freckles and wore classes, while the other was tan and wore dark clothing.

"You see the new babe, Kensuke? Man, she's hot", the tan kid told his pal.

"Yeah. What I really want to know is if blue really is her hair color. That would be a first", Kensuke replied. "Still, on the other hand, Mari just knocks my socks"

"Actually, I love to be caught in a room with both, because as they all say...'Two is better than one!', Kensuke. Remember that", Toji replied back.

"So...once school lets out, we should introduce ourselves to them.", Kensuke added.

"You know...since the new babe just arrived here, she might need some help unpacking.", Toji suggested.

"Yeah! That's a great idea, Toji. Not only we'll get to talk to the babes, we can also get on the right foot with them. I sure can't wait to talk to Mari in person.", Kensuke replied in joy.

"Shut up, you two!", Hikari yelled at Toji and Kensuke.

"Yes, class rep.", Toji and Kensuke both sighed as they replied.

* * *

After school let out, Rei and Mari walked out of class, talking about random things when they were then approached by Toji and Kensuke

------

"Ummmm...hi there. So you're new, right?", Toji asked Rei.

"Hi. Nice to meet both of you. My name is Rei Ayanami.", Rei replied as she then shook both Toji and Kensuke's hands.

"Since you're new here....we presume that...you have have some things to unpack, right?", Kensuke asked

"Wait...you need help unpacking?", Mari added. "I think we three should help Rei unpack her belongings."

"Well, count me in too", the voice of a man called out.

"Oh. Hi Kaji. So you want to help Rei out as well?", Mari replied.

"I already promised her to do so this morning", Kaji replied back.

"Well...thank you all, I would really appreciate it", Rei replied to them all in admiration of their willing to help her unpack.

"Well, then. Let's go to Rei's apartment room and get started!", Kaji replied in joy.

As they drove to the apartment complex, Kaji told Rei "So you met some friends today? That's a good start."

"Yeah. Its best to stick together than to make enemies", Mari replied back.

Toji then leaned towards Kensuke and whispered "Why don't you speak to Mari like you want to? You said that you wanted to and now that you're by her, you're freezing up all of a sudden."

'I...I...i'm afraid, Toji.", Kensuke whispered in response.

"What? Afraid ofr rejection?", Toji whispered back. "Better to try now than to never do so"

"Well...maybe.", Kensuke whispered to Toji

"Ooookay, then. Suit yourself", Toji finished whispering.

* * *

Inside Rei's apartment, Toji asked Rei "So...about your hair. Is that your real hair color?"

"Why is this always the first thing everyone asks about me?", Rei groaned to herself

"Yeah. Tell us about the hair. I like to know why my coworker's hair color is blue", Mari added.

"Uuuuugh.", Rei groaned to herself again

"Indeed, Rei. I like to know as well", Kensuke added in as well

"Okay. Here I go", Rei told herself. She then looked at the other kids and said "My folks have told me from time to time that I was born like that. When I was a little kid, when my hair started to grow, they said that it was blue. Much like how it is now. They asked the doctor why my hair is blue and the response was that it must have been a rare genetic mutation. They said that this also explains why my skin is so pale and why my eyes are red, though they never explained why my facial features are not...ahem...Asian like a lot of you are."

As soon as she finished telling what she had to say, the room was silent.

Kensuke then said "Wow...just...wow. That is...so AWESOME!!!"

"No shit, Kensuke. A girl with natural blue hair. So rare, its amazing", Toji added.

"That's cool, Rei. Real cool", Mari added in as well

"Now, then.", Kaji told all four children. "With that said, we got a lot to do for Rei before the day is over."

"Thanks, Kaji.", Rei replied. "Let's get focused on making my apartment room looking spiffy.

and thus, for about several hours, Kaji and the four children all unpacked each box and situated the room to Rei's liking

* * *

After they had finished, Toji and Kensuke said "Well, we gotta go home to our respective parents. Its getting late"

"Yeah.", Mari added. "You start you synch tests tomorrow, Rei. Don't want to be tired while testing. See you tomorrow."

After Mari, Toji and Kensuke left, Kaji then said "Okay, I better hit the road myself. Same time tomorrow, except you'll be heading to Nerv instead of school, okay?"

"Oh...really?", Rei responded. "That'll be...interesting" She then muttered to herself "and I still wish it was blue."

"Anyways, goodnight!", Kaji told Rei as he left

"Bye, Kaji.", Rei replied as she waved.

* * *

After Kaji left, Rei then told herself "Another eventful day done. Now...since I got my computer, TV, game systems, stereo and such set up, I should watch a movie before I go to bed"

She then looks through her DVD box and picks up the movie "The Burning"

"Heh. The Burning. Nothing beats a good old slasher film", Rei said

She then popped the movie into her DVD player and sat on her couch to watch it...only to pass out on the couch as the film played, sending her into the next day without warning.


	5. Chapter 4: First Time is Always the Best

**Chapter 4: The First Time is Always the Best

* * *

**

6:10 AM. Tuesday.

Rei's second full length day in Tokyo-3 is about to begin.

However, her slumber was awaken by some loud knocking at her door.

------

"Rei! Get your bloody arse up! They want you at HQ immediately", Mari screamed as she banged on the door.

"Hold on, hold on. I'll be there.", Rei muttered, despite being tired and barely awake.

She then realized that she fell asleep in her new school uniform and knowing that Mari wasn't going to wait any long, she immediately turned off the TV and DVD player, grabbed her keys and cellphone, got by the door, put her shoes on and get out of the apartment room, in which she was confronted by a slightly annoyed Mari, who's face is all red and her hands are slightly bruised up.

"What took you so long? I tried to call you on the cell and you didn't answer", Mari informed Rei "Still in the school threads, eh?"

"Yeah. I fell asleep on the couch while I was watching an old horror movie.", Rei replied. "Not the first time i've done so"

"Ah, so you fell asleep on the couch with the telly on. Did you turn it off by any chance?", Mari asked Rei.

"Ummm...what's a telly?", Rei asked Mari.

"Oh. My mistake. Back in my home country, we called what you call televisions and TVs tellies.", Mari tells Rei. "At least you got a nice telly. Mine's complete bollocks. Anyways, we gotta go. They sure aren't going to be pleased that you're running late"

"Okay, okay, Mari. That's why I didn't change into my street clothes. I didn't want to drag", Rei told Mari.

"Fine with me. That school uniform, strangely enough, fits you very well. Almost like something that you would wear all the time.", Mari informed Rei. "Though I know that you probably wouldn't, judging by your street clothes. Some bands you listen to, eh?"

"Yeah. Now you're dragging the two of us down. Didn't you say that we were in a hurry? Well, let's go!", Rei ordered Mari.

"That's right.", Mari nodded and thus both of them ran.

* * *

As they ran to Nerv HQ, Rei asked Mari "By the way, where's Kaji? Surprised that you came by and not him."

"He had some business to attend to, so he asked me to wake you up and follow me. I know the best route to Nerv on foot, so you'll be alright.", Mari replied

"Yeah. In fact, he told me that he's leaving for Germany next week. Something about becoming the guardian of The Second Child. Have you met her?", Rei asked.

"Actually, no. I haven't.", Mari replied. "Nor have I met the Third Child. Have you met him yet?"

"Not really. But I really want to. I knew the Ikaris for quite a few years now, but I never, ever managed to meet their son, so in a few months I finally will. A moment that has been in the making for years.", Rei told Mari

"So...I seems like you're..ahem...dying to meet him.", Mari replies with a smirk on her face.

Rei then blushes and replies "Well...yeah.". However, she then stops and stays quiet.

Mari then says "What's wrong, Rei. Did I embarrass you?"

With her cheeks all red, Rei then replied "Okay. We better waste time now."

"You're right. Let's go!", Mari ordered and thus they continued to make their way towards Nerv HQ.

* * *

Once they arrived at Nerv HQ, they were then approached by Yui, who told them "Wow. You two are early. We wern't expecting you to be here until 9 o' clock AM, so why the rush?"

All of a sudden, Rei turned her head towards Mari and said "Okay. Why did you have to wake me up this early when you knew that we didn't have to be here until several hours later?"

Mari, looking equally surprised, replied "To be honest, I didn't even know when I was supposed to get you over here. All Kaji did was that I had to immediately take you to Nerv and I interpreted that he meant that it had to be now."

Despite hearing what Mari said, Rei didn't quite buy it and said "I really hope you're not bullshitting me."

All of a sudden, Gendo's voice boomed "Oh no we're not, you two. In fact, since you're here, let's get started right now so you two can take the rest of the day off."

"Sure.", Rei replied.

"Okay, Mr. Ikari. Will do.", Mari replied as well

Yui and Mari had then taken Rei to the changing room so she can try her plug suit on.

* * *

"Rei", Yui told Rei while holding a mostly white baggy suit "This is your plug suit. With the exception of an emergency, you are required to wear it."

"So...how do I put it on? It seems awfully baggy.", Rei replied

"Oh. As soon as you put it on, you press a button on your left wrist, it'll fit you like a glove.", Yui told Rei.

"Yeah. It's great. You'll get used to it soon", Mari added as she was changing behind a curtain.

Yui then handed Rei a headset with wing-like edges on them and told her "You need to wear this too. It's required for the synchronization of you and the Evangelion."

Rei grabbed the headset and situated it on her head and said "Funny. It doesn't feel like I have anything on there."

Yui then said " Good. Alrighty, i'll see you two in the entry plug room.", and walked away.

Rei then stripped down to the nude and put on the plug suit. After she got it situated on her, she then pressed the button Yui told her to press, only for the plug suit to go from being baggy to completely fitting her perfectly.

"Wow. This feels great. Almost like...a..a..", Rei muttered, only for Mari to cut her off by saying "A second skin? Yeah. it sure is. So...you're ready to go and do your first synch test?"

"Yup.", Rei replied.

"Well...come on then, lets go", Mari replied.

So Rei then walked out of the room and ran into Mari, who was wearing a plug suit of her own, which was mostly green, with the exception of two big white spots around her breasts, two white stripes each on both sides of her waist, a red circle in between her breasts, some black markings on it, as well as it being black underneath her arms and whatnot.

Mari then muttered "Well, your plug suit is quite...white. Its cool"

"Same for you", Rei replied.

So the two then made their way into a room in which Yui was standing in and said "Well, then. Since Mari knows the roll, she can get into the plug by herself", in which Mari proceeded to walk into another door. Yui then turned her head towards Rei and said "As for you, Rei. I'll show you the way." and thus they walked into a different door next to the one Mari entered.

* * *

"LT. MAYA IBUKI, YOU ARE NEEDED IN THE SYNCH ROOM COMMAND CENTER. I REPEAT, LT. MAYA IBUKI, YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUIRED IN THE SYNCH ROOM COMMAND CENTER.", a voice calls out through the speaker system

"Oh man. I'm late. I gotta hurry!", the voice of a woman in her early-to-mid 20s shouted out in a panicked tone as she rushed to get to the room she's required to be in. Despite trying her best to avoid running into either a coworker or a wall, she nearly did so, she managed to barely avoid hitting anything.

"Why is she always late, Aoba?", a man in a standard issue Nerv uniform wearing glasses asked another man, who has long hair"

"Beats me, Hyuga. With the exception of doing tasks and following Ritsuko around like a pet, she's hardly around, so who the hell knows what she's up to.", the long haired man in the Nerv uniform apparently named Aoba replied.

"Oh well. She'll be here as always.", Hyuga replied back. "At least she shows up period."

This woman in particular named Maya Ibuki is running through the hallways, trying to get to her destination the fastest she can. She has short black hair and is wearing the female variant of the Nerv uniform. She had joined Nerv a year ago and thus is the assistant to Dr. Ritsuko Akagi.

"Excuse me", Maya told some fellow Nerv employees as she continued to make her way to her destination

"Sorry i'm late.", Maya panted as she stepped inside the synch room commander center. Ritsuko rolled her eyes as she saw Maya make her way towards her post. Yui, on the other hand, just shrugged.

"Always late.", Ritsuko muttered to Yui.

"Yeah. I wonder why.", Yui replied.

* * *

Rei is now situated in her plug for the first time. "So this is it. I'm about to actually be inside this thing. Too bad all I have to do is sit inside it and relax. No combat. No action. Just sitting."

However, this orange stuff started to pour in, quickly filling the cockpit up.

"What is this orange crap that's coming in?", Rei panicked as she was confused by the sight she was witnessing."

"Don't worry. It's LCL. Breathable liquid. You'll be fine.", Yui told her as the liquid continued to fill Rei's cockpit

"Oh, the stench.", Rei blurted out as soon as she got a whiff of the LCL's smell and thus the entire cockpit was filled with the stuff...and then it vanished.

"Huh? Where's that orange juice crap?", Rei said to herself as she noticed that her cockpit wasn't filled with that stuff anymore, but instead, she was sent into a psychedelic blur of colors, lights and swirls, only to then find herself properly inside the Evangelion.

"Okay, Rei. All you need to do is relax and see if you can synchronize with your Evangelion.", Ritsuko told her while Yui nodded her head.

"So...I just relax and think happy thoughts?", Rei replied.

"Pretty much...unless you're in combat.", Mari then muttered, in which she can be heard through the Evangelion's inner speaker.

"So..okay, then. Just sit back and relax, right?", Rei asked.

"Exactly.", Yui told her and Rei did exactly that. Just sit back and relax.

"Wow. I didn't expect her to synch that well for just being in there for the first time', Ritsuko pondered.

"Yeah. Seems like that...there's a very strong bond between them. Almost like Rei's suddenly being back at something she lost years ago.", Yui replied

"Yes. And that means that she'll be very efficient in combat, in which the combat training will commence in a few days", Gendo responded. He then realized something and told his wife "I need some matters to accomplish right now. Excuse me"

"Alrighty, darling. I just hope you're not lying about something", Yui responded back.

"Don't worry, i'm not.", Gendo replied to Yui and left.

"Well. Since we got nothing else to do today, I might as well just kick back and play guitar", Aoba told his coworker Hyuga

"I can just watch tonight's programming while i'm at it.", Hyuga replied.

"I hope that doesn't mean another pointless documentary about the so-called 'great' Professor Naomi Mifune. In fact, what's the whole big deal about her?", Aoba asked.

"You see, Aoba", Hyuga replied "From what research I did on her, she was a brilliant mind. One of a kind in the field of robotics. Every mech made today has been influenced by Naomi's advancements in the field. Heck, I even heard that she was good friends with Ritsuko's mother, the creator of the MAGI before Naoko passed on.". He then turned his head towards Ritsuko and asked her "With that said, its obvious that you must have known Naomi well, right?"

"I don't want to even talk about her.", Ritsuko shrugged and walked out of the room.

"Odd.", Hyuga muttered at Ritsuko rejecting his offer at her to tell stories.

"Heck, with Maya being all hurdy gurdy about her 'senpai' Ritsuko, I wonder what she thinks about the so-called real innovator that is Naomi.", Aoba muttered

However, they both realized that Maya was no where to be found.

"Shit. She's gone again.", Aoba scoffed.

"Like always.", Hyuga replied "Heck, with the exception of during these tests with the children, meetings and when she's clinging behind Ritsuko, she's nowhere. Not even around town."

"Strange indeed.", Aoba spouted.

* * *

Inside a dark room. Gendo sat in a chair, with both hands in front of his face, clamped together.

------

"Commander Ikari.", a cold, deep, sinister, booming metallic voice then growled. "The old men better not be thinking about their own gain"

"Trust me, they are. In fact, once the Angels arrive, I assure you that the committee will start popping up here more frequently.", Gendo replied to the voice.

All of a sudden, two red lights showed up and a black figure in a black cape walked into the view. A demonic looking helmet was where the lights were illuminating from.

"I hope you haven't told anyone of my presence yet, Commander Ikari", the figure then growled

"and if I did, Nerv would be ruined. You would be in front of the UN hearing various offensives against you and the world would be doomed.", Gendo replied.

"Indeed. Also, i've heard that the old men have mentioned about something. Something they call 'The Human Instrumentality Project'. What exactly is this thing?", the figure asked.

"Yes, but I suppose that my wife Yui would be opposed to it and if I told her I would consider it, she would kill me", Gendo replied

"Even if she learned of it and passed on later on, would you consider it as an option?", the figure asked.

"Absolutely not. In life or even after death, I would not disobey my wife's wishes.", Gendo replied.

"So...have you kept my presence a secret from everyone else liked you promised a year ago?", the voice asked.

"Like I said from time to time, Dark One. The only person who knows you're here is me. No one else. Not Seele, not my wife, not Dr. Akagi, not Fuyutsuki. No one. Just me. Our meetings do not exist to everyone else except the two of us.", Gendo informed The Dark One.

"Good. Until we need to speak again, i'll be lurking, in the shadows.", The Dark One growled as he vanished into the shadows, leaving the room to be completely silent.

* * *

About a minute later, Yui, Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko walked in.

------

"So we shall discuss who we should send in to the first Angel battle when it happens?", Fuyutsuki asked Gendo.

"Rei needs her combat training", Gendo muttered. "and since Seele predicted that the Third Angel will not surface until the beginning of next year, we need to give her as much training as possible."

"But what about our son Shinji? We're not going to have him transferred until next year as well?", Yui ponded in a worried tone. "So if we're giving the First and Fifth Children so much training, why aren't we going to have our son over here until later?"

"He can wait", Gendo replied. "The Second is already well trained enough, but we don't need her here yet, either and Kaji is off to be her guardian starting next Monday, so we're in good condition."

"I suppose", Ritsuko added in.

* * *

"After cleaning up in Nerv's own showers, Rei got back into her school uniform and said "Why..just why did I have to fall asleep in this monkey suit?"

"Like I said, Rei.", Mari told her "You look good in it"

Rei shrugged and said "Ugh. Let's go back to my place. I'm going to have to wear this thing again tomorrow, so I want to change into something better."

"Sounds great. Got any movies to play on your telly?", Mari asked.

"Yup. Let's go", Rei told Mari.

* * *

About 23 minutes later, Rei and Mari had both arrived at Rei's apartment room. The first thing Rei did (Besides taking her shoes off immediately before stepping into the door, which is a Japanese custom) was grab some sweatpants and a T-Shirt and ran into her bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

After switching clothes, she emerged from the bathroom wearing grey sweatpants and a plain dark gray T-Shirt.

------

"Real fancy, aren't you", Mari sarcastically muttered.

However, before they could do anything, they heard knocking at the door.

"I'll get it", Rei called out as she ran towards her front door. As she opened it, she saw Toji and Kensuke standing in front of the door.

"Well, here's today's school work.", Toji said as he handed Rei's schoolwork to her.

Kensuke caught Mari and called out to her "Since you're here too, here's your schoolwork of the day as well"

Mari then pranced towards Kensuke, snatched it from her hands and said "Thank you, handsome", and pranced back to Rei's couch. Kensuke began to gasp over the fact that Mari was right in front of him, until Toji nugged him in the side with his elbow.

"So...can we come in?", Toji asked Rei.

"Sure thing. Me and Mari was going to watch a movie, but you guys can come in and join us.", Rei told them.

"Great.", Toji replied, in which he and Kensuke took off their shoes and stepped inside.

"So...what movie are we going to watch?", Mari asked.

"This movie", Rei replied as she held up a DVD case of a movie called Streets of Mayhem

"The hell is that?", Mari replied "It looks like some real bollocks schlock"

"Oh come on, Mari" Rei told her "Its a fun action movie"

"Oh great. I love them crazy action films", Kensuke joyfully screamed.

* * *

About 30 minutes into the movie, we saw a big man walking around, beating up various gangbangers and punks in various gruesome fashion. Some guy with nunchucks walked up to the main guy and muttered 'I will take you down, big man.". However, he stood no chance to the main guy's shotgun, blowing him away.

"Wow. I never expected this babe to like these kind of movies", Toji remarked

"See. Everyone has a surprise in them", Rei replied.

They then took a look at Rei's guitar and Kensuke said "Hey! Don't you play guitar?"

"Yeah.", Rei responded.

"Can you play on it for us?", Toji asked

"I broke a string the other day.", Rei said as she frowned "Do you know anyone town that plays guitar?"

"Nope.", Toji replied.

"Not at all.", Kensuke added

However, Mari suddenly stood up and said "Wait. There's that one guy that works for Nerv. He's got long hair and it seems like that when he's not working, he air guitars and reads various music magazines, so when you get the chance, you should ask him"

"Great.", Rei replied. "Thansk for telling me. I'll do that when we're needed back there."

* * *

As it got late, Toji, Kensuke and Mari had to leave, so they left and once again, Rei was by herself. To make sure she wouldn't repeat what she did the night before, she got into her pajamas, turned the TV and lights off and went to bed.


	6. Chapter 5: Combat Training 101

**Chapter 5: Combat 101

* * *

**

5:12 AM. Wednesday.

At least there's no need to rush this morning, since she's going to school first

but then, her cellphone rings, awaking her.

------

"Oh man. Ever since I moved here, I haven't been able to get good enough sleep", Rei groans as she grabs her cellphone and answers it

"Hello?", she asks

"Hey Rei. I sure missed you yesterday", the voice on the other line called out. It was Kaji

"Kaji, where were you yesterday? You ended up making Mari wake me up a lot sooner than I was needed.", Rei groaned back.

"Oops. I apologize for that. She actually had called me earlier and yelled at me for not giving her clearer ideas of when you two were supposed to be there.", Kaji apologized

"So...please. Be honest with me. Was me and Mari supposed to be there at a certain time?", Rei sternly asked

"Well...actually, Yui said that they needed the two of you at some point of the day, but didn't give me any particular details of when exactly you two were needed. However, the Commander then got hold of the phone and said that he wanted you two as soon as possible, so if there's anyone you want to blame, blame Commander Ikari", Kaji confessed to Rei.

"Heh. Such a stern guy, yet the only time I remember him showing a soft side was when he...he...", Rei told Kaji, yet as soon as she remembered her past, she began to tear up, due to the fact that she doesn't like to revisit that fateful day back at Gehrim when she was only 9 years old.

"Yeah, I know. In fact, let's just leave it there. In fact, Mari had said that those two dudes you had over along with Mari the other day told her that you need a swimming suit today, since you all are going swimming today", Kaji told her.

"I'm sorry, but my parents didn't pack me one.", Rei responded. "And I haven't swam in months!"

"Don't worry", Kaji replied "As soon as I mentioned that you might not have a swimming suit on you, Mari immediately said she'll lend you one of her own."

"Great. So you're going to pick me up and drop me off at school again?", Rei asked

"Yeah. In fact, i'll be dropping the two of you off today, since, after all, Mari's gotta lend out her swimsuit to you.", Kaji told Rei

"Sounds good. So, when you two will be by to pick me up?", Rei asked

"In about an hour by the earliest", Kaji responded. "Better be ready by then"

"Sure will", Rei replied. After that, she hung up her cellphone and started to get ready

"Now I have to wait till tomorrow to wear my old school uniform. Bah!", Rei muttered as she was getting ready, which consisted of a shower, breakfast, brushing her teeth and getting dressed into her school clothes and such

She then flipped on the TV to see what actual Television channels Tokyo-3 has. And the first thing she comes across is a documentary about some robotics maestro by the name of Naomi Mifune

"At the age of either 12 or 13, Naomi lost her hand in a chem lab accident in college. The US government had given her a robotic hand, yet with the help of her father, she crafted herself a hand far more advance than anyone else could have come up with", said the man narrating the documentary

"Gee..only around my age and she was in college already? Damn. Just, damn", Rei muttered in complete bemusement

She then immersed herself in watching this documentary, only to get interrupted by hearing knocking at her door.

"Oh crap. Must see if they'll have this on again later. This Naomi is quite something", Rei blurted as she heard the knocking and turned off her television.

She then opened her door and saw both Kaji and Mari standing.

"Is it just me or does Mari always wear that everywhere she goes? I must ask her later.", Rei pondered to herself

"So you're ready? Rei", Mari told Rei as she was surprised to see that unlike yesterday, Rei was completely ready for the day

"Yup. Thanks to Kaji, I was able to buy myself time to get ready.", Rei told Mari as she put on her shoes and stepped out of her apartment. She then shut and locked the door behind her as she stepped by Mari and Kaji.

"Alrighty, you two. Let's go", Kaji told them as he began to walk towards his car

"You still make the school uniform look good", Mari told Rei as they got into the car

"Eh, can you drop it.", Rei told Mari

"No, i'm serious. You and that school uniform are just made for each other.", Mari informed Rei of her opinion

"Okay. Let me make it clear. The only way I would wear this god forsaken school uniform all the time would be if I was some quiet, emotionless, lifeless doll who was the sex slave of an old man who I would follow around all the time, only because I bore a passing resemblance to his deceased wife. If I was a freak like that, okay. Maybe I would wear this school uniform all the time, but that's not what I am and I don't want to be like that. Okay." Rei yelled at Mari in a burst of frustration.

"Gee, Rei. Chill. Chill out. Don't need to go on the warpath over me complimenting that you and that school uniform fit each other like a couple.", Mari said, feeling a bit down that she pissed Rei off

"Funny thing is that now that we brought this up, I want to know why YOU were your uniform all the time?", Rei asked Mari

"Oh. This? I have plenty of other clothes to wear, but i'm always either at school or doing security work with Five, so I never get a chance to have some R&R.", Mari sighed as she replied

"Hey. Why not I come by YOUR place today instead?", Rei asks Mari

"Sure. Since i've been to your place, it would be fair if you come to mine", Mari replied

"I'll drop you guys off there after you get out of your combat training", Kaji muttered as he drove Rei and Mari to school.

* * *

At school, the teacher told the class "Alright. Today, Mrs. Kumamoto will be taking the girls out to swim while the boys must do some track and field. Understand?"

"Yes, teacher.", the entire class replies.

"Alright. Move along. Don't want to keep Mrs. Kumamoto waiting", Class Rep. Hikari told her fellow classmates as they all left the classroom.

"So...as you said. It's been a long time since you swam, right?", Mari asked Rei.

"Yeah. It must have been a year since I took a swim", Rei replied "So you got the swimming suit you were going to lend out to me?"

"Absolutely. Once we get in the locker room to change, i'll give it to you.", Mari replied

* * *

Inside the locker room, Mari handed Rei a navy blue one piece swimsuit and told her "Here. This is your swimsuit. In fact, you can keep it. I got plenty of my own".

"Well...thank you. I'll go put it on right now", Rei thanked Mari as she then started to remove her clothes to put the swimsuit on.

After she put it on, Mari then said "Wow. It fits you far better than I ever imagined. It's yours.", Mari told Rei in amazement that the swimsuit fit her so well.

"Well, thank you. Heh, your swimsuit would make Kensuke drool", Rei told Mari as she saw Mari in a green two piece swimsuit.

However, as soon as Rei mentioned Kensuke's name, Mari blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh. Wait a second. You like the guy, don't you?", Rei asked Mari with an impish smile

"Uh...uh...I think he's cute little nerdy boy", Mari replied.

"Or that both of you wear glasses. You two would certainly make a cute couple.", Rei smirked a fairly devilish smirk

"Oh you!", Mari laughed as she lightly shoved Rei, in which both bursted into laughter.

"What you guys doing? Get your asses out here! You don't have all day", Class Rep. Hikari barked at Rei and Mari.

Mari then turned her head towards Hikari and yelled "Piss off, class rep. Me and Rei will be out there soon."

Hikari, not having anything else to say, stomped away in irritated as Rei and Mari started laughing again

"Good one, Mari. You sure put Little Bo Peep in her place", Rei laughed as she replied to Mari.

"Yeah. Anyways, let's have fun in the sun and water now", Mari told Rei "Let's Go!"

The two then ran out of the locker room.

* * *

When the reached the pool, Mari immediately jumped into the pool, while Rei stopped, turned around, put her arms out and let herself fall into the pool.

Rei then corkscrewed herself underwater until she surfaced out of the water to catch her breath.

------

"What an elegant entrance there.", Mari told Rei. Both of them are dripping wet, due to being in the pool.

"Oh, you're so kind", Rei replied.

* * *

Over by the track, all the boys were staring at the girls

------

"Man. Mari looks even better wet and without glasses than dry and with glasses!", Kensuke yelped

"Now I wonder what Rei looks like are dunking herself.", Toji muttered

Right after he said that, Rei then walked out the pool like a fashion model, completely wet. She then stroked her head up, in which all the boys began to whistle and scream things at her

"WOOO HOOO!!", all the boys screamed at the sight of a wet Rei.

However, funbreaker Hikari then caught a glimpse of the boys watching and yelled "Ewww...all the boys are staring at us."

"Oh shit. the class rep. caught us.", Toji welped after he heard Hikari's voice

"Busted", another girl yelled at the boys.

* * *

Back at the pool, Mari then told Rei "Heh. You sure stunned the boys with your looks"

"Yeah, but..", Rei muttered

"But what?", Mari replied in confusion

"The thing is that none of the boys here interest me at all. I want a guy who's more...sensitive. While I may seem shy and all, that's hardly what I am, so I would not tolerated a jockish meathead being my guy at all. I want a guy who can share and relate my pains and troubles when I have them", Rei told Mari

"Wow. That's quite...deep, Rei. So you prefer softies. Well, we all have own own preferences, so more power to you, then.", Mari replied

"Alright, hit the locker room and get cleaned up. We're going back to class now", Hikari told her classmates

"I guess its back to class, eh?", Mari remarked

"Well, that was certainly a lot of fun", Rei replied.

The two girls then headed back to the locker room to dry up and get dressed.

* * *

As they got out of the locker room all dressed up, they then ran into a familiar figure.

------

"Oh, Kaji. What'cha doing here?", Mari asked

"Rei, I got word from the Ikaris that you will be starting your combat training in about 30 minutes, so i'm here to pick you up.", Kaji replied

"Great. Now I can actually do something in my EVA", Rei remarked

"As for you, Mari. You'll be doing some underground security watch with Five", Kaji told Mari

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know", Mari shrugged.

"Alright you two. Let's go!", Kaji told them, in which they all left.

* * *

About an hour later, Rei was back in her Evangelion, all ready to start combat training. However, the cockpit once began to fill up with LCL.

------

"Oh, come on. Not this orange shit again!", Rei welped as her cockpit began to fill up with it

"Get used to it, Rei. Its required for all EVA pilots to have their cockpit to be filled up with LCL before we get the Evangelion ready to be used.", Ritsuko informed her

"Alright...", Rei replied. However, before she could say any more, the entire cockpit was filled with the stuff. It smelled even worse than the day before, causing Rei to freak out a little. However, once again, the psychedelic display of colors and lights flashed before her eyes, causing the LCL to simply vanish. She was then entirely back into pilotin her Evangelion. Unit 00.

"Okay, Rei. What I want you to do is try to walk.", Yui told Rei.

"Got it.", Rei replied.

She then began to get Unit 00 walking, which succeeded.

"Wow. Such flawless execution.", Ritsuko muttered

"Indeed.", Yui nodded. "Now, try and do stuff you would normally do, except transfer all your thoughts into your Evangelion"

"Alright.", Rei responded

She then got Unit 00 to move its arms, flex them and such. She also walked around a little and even pretended to act like she was fighting an invisible man

"My goodness. Not only she's executing all these things without breaking a sweat, her synch level is so high", Maya muttered

"Indeed. Ain't it crazy?", Yui replied

"Absolutely. As you said, it seems like that both today and yesterday, Rei has been reuniting with something dear to her she lost. It just doesn't add up", Ritsuko pondered

All of a sudden, a large armored figured popped up, catching Rei off guard.

"What the hell?!?", Rei yelled

"Okay, now grab a gun. Once you get it, position the target in the center and pull the trigger.", Ritsuko told Rei

"Gotcha. This shall be easy", Rei muttered as she smirked.

She then made Unit 00 grabbing a gun and did exactly what Ritsuko told her, which resulted in the target getting neutralized.

"My god. She's excellent!", Ritsuko gasped

"Unbelievable", Maya yelled in surprised

"Yup. She's good. Real good" Yui muttered

Both Gendo and Fuyutsuki, while not saying a word, seemed satisfied by the results

"So...where the hell did she learn about handling a gun?", Maya asked

"I got a clear idea of where she learned that", Yui smirked

* * *

"You bastards. You can't stop me!", Rei yelled into a headset while she sat by her computer, playing a First Person Shooter online with other people. In game, she had killed various other players, right up to the last person, resulting in her winning that round

"Dammit, Kylos! You kicked all of our asses.", the voice of some 20 something dude yelled through Rei's headset

"How does it feel to be owned by a little girl?" Rei yelled back in her headset mic.

* * *

"Yeah...right", Ritsuko muttered as she rolled her eyes.

* * *

After the combat training, Rei felt sick to her stomach

------

"Uhhgh. That orange crap is going to be the death of me.", Rei moaned as she made her way to the bathroom. She then entered the bathroom, dragged herself towards a toilet and began to vomit in it.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to that piss", Mari told Rei.

"Uuuhhh.", Rei groaned, only to resume puking

* * *

After getting dressed and cleaned up, Rei then remembered that she had to ask that one guy who worked here if he had any guitar strings to spare, so she walked around, right until she bumped into a long haired man in a Nerv uniform named Aoba.

------

"Excuse me, but Mari told me that you played guitar. Is that true?", Rei asked Aoba

"Woah. You. Play. Guitar?", Aoba replied as his eyes widened in surprise

"Absolutely.", Rei replied as she smiled.

"Damn. In fact...here's my address. We should compare our skills on an off-day", Aoba responded as he then gave Rei a piece of paper containing his address "I would gladly help, but not now, i'm a little busy."

"Great. So...when?", Rei asked

"How about tomorrow?", Aoba replied

"Okay. Nice meeting you", Rei replied as she walked off.

After Rei left, Aoba muttered to herself "Heh. Now there's two musicians in the house."

* * *

About two hours later, Kaji had dropped Rei and Mari off at Mari's place. As they got inside, Mari told Rei "Okay, lemme get dressed. Okay?"

"Sure thing", Rei replied.

As Rei waited as Mari got dressed, she then emerged out of her bathroom wearing a pink tank top and a blue skirt.

"Is that better?", Mari asked Rei

"Yeah. You look nice. Mind if we watch your TV? I was watching a documentary on some gal this morning and I wanted to see if I could finish it. Is that fine with you?", Rei asked

"Oh. That documentary? Heh. You'll get tired of seeing it soon. They play that and other documentaries about Naomi Mifune ALL THE TIME.", Mari told Rei

"Whatever. I want to finish it. It was getting good.', Rei replied

"Fine. I was just warning you that you'll see a lot of thing about that Naomi gal on the telly all the time. In fact, my telly is absolute bollocks, but whatever.", Mari replied

They then sat down, turned Mari's TV on and changed it to the channel that played the documentary that was on earlier in the day.

* * *

It was then 10:37 PM. Kaji had then stopped by Mari's place to pick Rei up and drop her off. All three said goodbye and Rei and Kaji proceeded to leave

* * *

At 11:00 PM, Kaji dropped Rei off at her apartment room and left. She then got dressed for bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Somewhere in Antarctica, a white, egg-like structure began to emit a large amount of disjointed voices. Lights began to flash out of it, and then...a dark green hand emerged out of it.

A giant figure with a bird-like skull then eased its way out of the egg and looked into the horizon

This giant, in question, is the Third Angel. Sachiel

The first angel Rei and Unit 00 will fight and the first angel The Third Child and Unit 01 will fight.

The Third Child, named Shinji Ikari.


	7. Chapter 6: Soon New Year

**Chapter 6: Soon New Year

* * *

**

Thursday, December 28th 2014

The Third Angel had surfaced out of the White Moon in Antarctica.

It's heading its way to Tokyo-3

* * *

"Commander Ikari and Yui Ikari. We have received word that The Third Angel has surfaced out of the White Moon", an old man with a visor over his eyes told the couple inside a dark room.

Six old man are sitting around in a formation in their chairs in front of Gendo Ikari, Yui Ikari and Kozo Fuyutsuki.

"Any estimation on when it'll be here?", Gendo asked the old man

"At Monday, January 1st, 2015, the angel shall be here. Complete your preparations you have so it can be taken cared of", another old man replied.

"You better not disappoint us. This is only beginning, so make it look good", the old man with the visor sternly informed Kozo and the Ikaris, in which the old men then disappeared

"I guess...its time for our son to come. It's been a long time since we three been under the same house", Yui told her husband, in which his eyes widened after hearing her words.

"Uhh...uhhh...excuse me. You do the honors of calling him. I got...some business to attend to", Gendo told his wife as he rushed out of the room.

Yui then facepalmed and said "Oh, honey. Why don't you even call him yourself? Why?"

"I guess he's got better things to tend to. After all, with the angel on its way, we need to get the First prepared for battle.", Kozo informed Yui.

"and my son?", Yui replied

"Hopefully, The First and Unit 00 can deal with the angel. After that, we'll begin training your son immediately afterwards", Kozo replied

"Sounds good. I don't want him to be rushed into battle, but if the unspeakable happens, then i'm afraid he must", Yui confessed as she walked away, leaving Kozo by himself.

"I better get to my own business as well.", Kozo chuckled to himself and he walked off

* * *

Inside the lounge room, Yui picked up a phone and started to dial a number.

------

"Even though I was scheduled to meet him in Monday, I better tell him. Regardless, I can't wait to have him around", Yui told herself with a bittersweet smile.

* * *

Inside a fairly normal looking house, we see the phone ringing. A middle aged woman in her forties, sporting Auburn-colored hair, picks up the phone.

------

"Hello?", the woman asks

"Hi. This is your sister-in-law Yui. May I speak to my son, please?", Yui asks on the other end of the line.

"Alright, one second.", the woman replies. She then takes a few steps towards the stairs and yells out "IKARI! It's your mother. She wants to speak to you right now!'

A few seconds later, a teenage boy in a light red shirt and shorts walks down the stairs. As soon as he nears the phone, the woman hands the phone over to him. Once he gets the phone, he puts it near his ear and mouth and says "Hello"

"Hi, my darling. Doing good?", Yui replies

"Hello mother.", Shinji replies "So you'll be here Monday, just in time for New Years, right?", he asks

"Actually, me and your father need you in Tokyo-3 by Monday, so start packing your bags, we need you.", Yui replied

"You mean father needs me too?", Shinji replied in confusion

"Yes. Its been a while since you two have spoke, so it'll be great to see the two of you around under the same house again", Yui instantly responded.

"Ummm...okay. See you then, mother.", Shinji replied

* * *

Back at Nerv HQ in Tokyo-3, Yui replied "See you too", in which she then hung up the phone.

"I bet he has no clue that he'll be piloting the same behemoth he saw me testing in when he was little", Yui muttered to herself, showing a slight trace of concern in her voice.

"You better start to show you care about him, Gendo. I married you and I gave birth to Shinji, so I expect the two of you to get along like father and son", Yui growled to herself in irritation over the fact that her husband hasn't even spoke to Shinji in several years.

* * *

Elsewhere in Nerv HQ, Mari and Rei were walking around, talking about things

------

"So...how's England?", Rei asked Mari

"Even though its cold, it is, after all, my home country.", Mari replied "There's nothing like home."

"So, you miss it by any chance?", Rei asked Mari

Mari sighed and replied "A little. Mum and dad probably miss me as well, though I talk to 'em all the time. Sure, i'm glad that I am not around all the ciggy smoke, with the exception of that toerag Ritsuko, but even then, it's all good."

They continued to walk, in which Rei decided to ask Mari "So. You know anything about the Second?"

"The Second? Oh, her. No. Like I said, I never met her, but i've heard that her mother lost the pilot when she was little, but even then, I suppose its a load of malarkey.", Mari immediately replied

"Ummm...you're not making sense again, Mari", Rei replied

"Pardon my slang, Rei.", Mari instantly replied, being embarrassed at her impulse to speak her native slang words

"That's cool. We are all unique in many ways. In fact, I don't mind you and your dialect at all", Rei replied

"Same here", Mari replied back

However, they then stopped cold as they heard blips and bloops coming out of a room, along with what sounds like a fully-grown man getting pissed at the fact he ain't doing as well as he usually does in what he's doing

"It sounds like the commander.", Mari whispered to Rei

"Yeah, it sure does. Let's be quiet and see what he's doing.", Rei responded

as they slowly snuck towards the doorway and peaked, they saw Commander Ikari standing in front of an ancient arcade cabinet of the game Space Invaders. Also, as it appears, it clearly shows that he's playing the game.

"Hah. No matter how old you are, you still play video games", Rei quietly chuckled

"No shit.", Mari also chuckled

However, they then heard a voice

"Blimey!", Mari quietly welped as she heard the voice "We gotta hide. I think the Commander heard us"

"Yeah...let's get out of sight before he finds us!", Rei quietly replied to Mari.

* * *

Out of the doorway walks Commander Ikari, who had sorely lost a game of Space Invaders, a game he had extensively played in his youth.

------

"Okay...who was watching?!?", Gendo barked as he looked around to see if anyone was around. All he could find was two cardboard boxes near a wall in the hallway.

"Good.", he replied in satisfaction and walked away.

After Commander Ikari walked out of sight, the two boxes lifted up to reveal that both Rei and Mari had been hiding in them

"Phew. That was close", Rei spoke in relief

"Absolutely. Don't want to cop it over seeing the Commander playing his video games", Mari replied

"Speaking of games, that Solid Snake sure has taught us a trick or two in hiding.", Rei replied

"Woah. Hold on! You played the Metal Gear Solid games? Holy shite! I love them games too", Mari yelled in suprise and excitement

"That's great.", Rei replied

They then stood up and started to walk.

* * *

While Rei and Mari walked, they ran into Aoba, who then said "Yo Rei. Since you said you play guitar, I wonder what bands you listen to?"

"Gee...when I come over, I should bring my best CDs to show you", Rei replied

"Cool. See you around and keep in mind that I keep both of your asses in watch when you pilot the EVAs", Aoba reminded them as he walked away.

After he walked away, Mari looked at Rei and asked "So. How does an older man sound to you?"

"As a friend? Sure. As a boyfriend? Absolutely not. I rather date someone around my age", Rei replied.

"He looks a lot younger than the other grownups.", Mari told Rei

"And so does Kaji. I don't aim for older men, Mari.", Rei replied

"Okay. Just asked.", Mari responded in a tone to show she wasn't interested in arguing.

"Anyways, let's go. They said they wanted me to continue combat training", Rei told Mari.

"Yeah. I got my underground security shift again with Five", Mari told Rei as she headed towards the changing room.

"See ya later!", Rei told Mari as they both went their separate ways.

* * *

Inside her Evangelion, Rei did what she did the other day, once again stunning everyone with both her high synch rate and her excellent skills at firing guns.

However, as soon as she was done with her combat training and left the cockpit, she was ordered to meet up with the Ikaris to get some information.

------

"Rei. For the next few days, we're going to intensify the training to prepare you for the first battle.", Commander Ikari told Rei

"Wait. I'm going to be fighting my first real enemy soon?", Rei asked

"Approx. on Monday, the Third Angel will arrive here in Tokyo-3, so we need you ready by then.", Yui informed

"Great. Another holiday. Shit.", Rei muttered to herself in annoyance to learn that yet another holiday will be a busy one. "Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Ikari. I'll be ready by then."

"Good. Also, the Third Child will be arriving on that day.", Commander Ikari told Rei.

"You...you mean your son? Holy molely! Not only I get to fight my first enemy, i'll finally meet your son!", Rei screamed in excitment. She then said to herself "He better be cute. I've been waiting to meet him."

"Well, with that said, you got the rest of the day off. Take care", Yui told Rei.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ikari", Rei replied as she bowed.

"You're excused.", Commander Ikari told Rei.

* * *

For the remaining days, Rei continued her rigorous training. However, the people she saw around took a massive alteration.

------

"Alright Rei. I'm leaving to Germany today. However, after I leave, someone very important will be here. She'll be you, Mari and the Third Child's commanding officer.", Kaji told Rei

"Who is it?", Rei asked

"My ex. She's a Lieutenant Colonel. Better treat her with respect, though she'll probably be a bit laid back at times", Kaji informed Rei

"Okay. I'll make sure. So, I guess this is farewell for a while?", Rei muttered

"Yeah, but i'll be back. Once the Ikaris need The Second, i'll certainly be back.", Kaji replied "Well, I better not miss my plane. See you!"

"See ya too!", Rei replied and waved as Kaji left.

* * *

Three hours later on the same day, she arrived.

As Rei and Mari were lounging around, a woman wearing a red jacket, a red beret, a one piece outfit and a cross pendant.

------

"So you must be the First Child?", the woman asked Rei.

"Yup. My name is Rei Ayanami. I am the pilot of Evangelion Unit 00", Rei introduced herself to the woman.

"Nice to meet you, Rei. As for me, my name is Misato Katsuragi. I'll be your superior throughout the various missions you and the other children will encounter.", Misato introduced herself to Rei.

"Hey Misato. How was the Second?", Mari asked Misato.

"I'll tell you two when the time comes. In fact, the Ikaris informed me that their son, The Third Child, will be arriving on Monday, the same day the Third Angel is supposed to show up.", Misato replied

"Yeah. We already know that", Mari smirked

"Well now. I want to see what you two are like in action, so off to the Training Room for the both of you.", Mistao smiled as she ordered the two girls. As they left to get dressed, Misato made her way to the training room to await their training, just to get an idea of how they're like. Especially Rei, since she wasn't around when Rei first arrived.

* * *

Much like before, throughout the remaining days, Rei did everything she needed to do in terms of getting ready for the battle. Much like how any athlete trains to get ready for the big game and event, Rei is doing the same, only for a much bigger battle than any wrestler or boxer would endure.

* * *

Finally, on Monday, January 1st, 2015, Rei was ready.

The angel had traveled undetected through sea up until it arrived near the waters of Tokyo-3, in which it finally made itself know.

* * *

Back at Nerv HQ, the preparations to get Unit 00 out in the open were made.

------

"So you're ready, Rei?", Misato asked Rei

"Absolutely", Rei replied.

"Sounds good. Just do as you were told", Yui added.

"So.., are you ready?", Ritsuko asked Rei

"Totally!", Rei replied in joy.

The bridge bunnies had confirmed that everything was set.

"Unit 00, ACTIVATE!!", Misato yelled

Unit 00 was then shot through a tunnel that went upward, right into the streets of Tokyo-3, ready to do battle with The Third Angel.

And with this said, things would get...ahem...a bit messy for all.


	8. Chapter 7: Angel Attack

**Chapter 7: Angel Attack**

* * *

"We're Sorry. Due to the state of emergency that has been declared, all lines have been disconnected."

Shinji Ikari has arrived in Tokyo-3, only to be greeted by a city full of emptiness, isolation and an automated phone message on a payphone.

"This doesn't seem right." he inquires. "Mother and Mrs. Rokubungi told me that this Ms. Katsuragi would meet me here at this rendezvous point, yet I see nothing."

As he looks around to double check if there's any sign of life, all he sees is the same old sights.

Nothing.

Just streets covered in litter, puddles and junk.

* * *

To pass by the time, Shinji reaches into his pocket and pulls out a picture of Misato to examine it.

"Well...I guess she's not one to hurry up on the job." Shinji tells himself as he looks at the picture, which shows Misato at a beach dressed in a beige tanktop and short shorts making the peace sign with her right hand, standing in a pose that makes her butt and rack stand out.

Writing on the photo reads, "To Shinji: I'll be picking you up, so wait for me, okay?", yet there's an arrow pointed at her visible rack with "Pay attention!" written next to it.

"Okay then." Shinji shrugs. However, he takes a quick glance at Misato's rack in the pick, only to roll his eyes, mumble, "Wait for you here. Okay." and sit on the sidewalk.

* * *

"Damn. Why do I always get lost in HQ?" Misato grumbles in annoyance as she drives to rendezvous point to pick up Shinji. "Not only does he think i'm irresponsible, but also completely out of my mind for not getting there soon enough, especially with this damn angel here."

Her cell phone then shrieks, which she immediately answers it.

"Yeah, what is it?" Misato asks the person on the other end of the line.

"Captain Katsuragi, this is Mari Makinami." she replies. "I'm in position. Remain here until I get the orders to assist Ayanami and the Ikaris' son?"

"Affirmative." Misato responds back while nodding, "I'll report back to you when i'm given the okay for you to jump into action."

"Okay, guv'nor." Mari replies to Misato's info. "Resuming position."

* * *

Misato then presses a button on her cellphone and asks, "Rei, how are you doing?"

"Oh me?", she replies. "I'm doin' fine. Just waiting for the order to engage in combat."

"So...are you okay?" Misato asks her, sounding a bit worried.

"Yup." Rei replies. "I'm so excited to fight my first angel!"

"Well...okay." Misato sternly replies with a worrisome look. "thing is that this not a video game. Its your own life that's on the line. OUR lives. You should not let the excitement get the best out of you in preparation of combat."

"Ooookay, Captain Katsuragi." Rei shrugs. "I'll try not to get too overboard with excitement, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, just please...do not let us down. We can't afford you to do so, especially since our incoming pilot has not received the required training.", Misato sternly replies.

Rei, after she gets off the phone, smirks and chuckles, "Oh whatever, Captain Katsuragi. I'll show you that I can kick that angel's ass real well."

* * *

After she puts her cellphone away, Misato quietly growls to herself, "Why the hell is Commander Ikari so adamant to get his son into combat. In fact, why the fuck are they not letting him live in town to begin with?". She then refocuses her attention to the road.

"I hope he's okay...or am I going to be too late?" Misato quietly mutters, fearing for his safety.

* * *

As Shinji sits on the sidewalk, a voice emitting what sounds like gibberish catches his attention nearby, which he steps away from the phone booth to follow the direction of the sound.

* * *

As he arrives, he sees a television inside a locked store televising a news report.

"I have received word that all citizens must evacuate to their assigned shelters. Anyone who remains out there must evacuate immediately for your own safety. I repeat, evacuate to your assigned shelters for your own safety!", the reporter informs as he obviously reads off a transcript.

However, a JSSDF soldier runs up and grabs him, shouting, "That means you too, civilian!"

"Hey...I need to get the word out to the people. They need protection!" the reporter yells back, trying his hardest to resist.

"Don't worry, buddy...Nerv's gonna broadcast their own televised warnings, just get your ass to your shelter!", the soldier chuckles at him.

"What...no. I refuse to be removed from here, you corporate tool. Get your hands off of me!" the reporter screams out as he tries to squirm and kick his way out of the soldier's grips.

However, more JSSDF soldiers show up and grab the reporter, with one even knocking him out cold with a swift punch in the face.

* * *

After they drag the reporter away, another soldier shouts, "That means you two, camera man. Get your ass to the shelter!"

Rather than fighting, the camera man walks away without putting up a fight, but after he and several other soldiers walks away, one soldier looks right into the camera, pulls out a pistol and shoots it, causing the TV to cut to static.

* * *

Shinji slowly backs away from the television and the store with a disturbed gaze, trying his best to walk away from the distressing event he just witnessed.

However, in a split second, several JSSDF VTOL aircrafts fly by, catching Shinji offguard.

* * *

"This is Endoburingā to HQ. I am hearing to the target, over." one of the JSSDF VTOL pilots reports to his superiors.

"Good. Now remember that we're only acting as assistance to Nerv's children and their mechs. You better just stick to your role and not get too trigger happy, okay?", one of his superiors reply on the other end of the line.

"Oh whatever." Endoburingā scoffs. "I don't need to play second banana to bunch of goddamn kids. I'll just do what I do best and that's fucking shit up!"

"Endoburingā, don't get cocky on us or the bosses will demote your ass." his superior growls in disapproval.

However, Endoburingā slams his mic down, focuses back on heading to the target and cockily chuckles, "Well fuck you guys. I got a target to neutralize."

He then flies to the angel, which has already done some wonders to the buildings caught in its path to Nerv HQ and shoots it with no success.

"What the hell?" a confused Endoburingā growls, becoming more irritated as the bullets bounce off of the angel's AT Field.

"Okay then, you giant bird faced fuck. Suck on my rockets!" Endoburingā shouts as he shoots a flurry of rockets which he thinks penetrates the AT Field, only for it to do nothing to the angel.

"God dammit, what the fuck are you?", he growls in sheer frustration, but the angel swiftly smacks the VTOL hurling with a single smack with its hand.

* * *

Shinji remains standing in the street, lost and confused over the sight of the VTOLs flying by him, yet his puzzled look twists into one of utter horror as a VTOL heads near him crashing down, which when it hits the pavement on impact, its pilot flies through the cockpit windows and tumbles next to Shinji, bloodied and writhing in pain until he stops cold...dead on the ground.

Greatly disturbed by what he witnessed, Shinji gasps and runs away as more VTOLs storm towards the direction their fellow fighters went.

* * *

"Ummm...Mr. Kazuhiro...are you sure its a good idea to stay in here instead of evacuating to our shelters?" a woman in a business suit asks her superior, who's quite an overweight fellow.

"Bah. We need no stinkin' shelters!" Mr. Kazuhiro grumbles. "Our work office here is fine enough.", which here turns around, pulls out a gun and shoots the flat screen TV on the wall, only to startle his employees. "We're going to stick put and continue working. If you don't like that, then tough shit!"

Yet before their eyes, a giant black arm crashes through the windows and smacks them all out of the building, falling briskly to the ground.

The force of impact sends Mr. Kazuhiro spinning and twirling through the air. The sight of his employees torn and crippled bodies was the last thing he saw as his torso is bluntly rushed through a broken lightpole, forcing blood to rain out of the wound, his nostrils and mouth like a morbid, grotesque fountain from hell.

* * *

"Shit. Can't believe i'm too late!" Misato growls in disappointment and irritation as she enters the streets that the angel is making a wreck of.

Mangled, broken corpses of citizens that didn't evacuate to their shelters, broken window shards, a burning VTOL fighter plane, an unholy amount of smog and other assorted apocalyptic imagery adorn the street, making it all the more difficult to find Shinji.

Misato flips on the car brights and slowly drives through the street, only to speed out of the way of incoming falling debris...and to find Shinji cowering in a corner.

She quickly drives up close to him, turns her brights on, rolls her windows down and shouts, "Hey. Get in!"

Shinji sees the headlights of Misato's car shining through the smoke as well as her voice yelling and without hesitation, runs towards it through said smoke and jumps in.

* * *

"Sorry i'm late." she tells him. "Just still getting used to being back here."

"So...you're Captain Misato Katsuragi." Shinji asks her. "The woman my mother and Mrs. Rokubungi told me about, right?"

"That's right." she replies,, then mugs "So you looked at the picture, eh?"

"Ummmm...yeah." Shinji nods in a somewhat embarrassed tone.

"Oh cool." Misato grins, only to retract it when she sees more debris crashing down nearby. "Shit, we gotta get to HQ. Hang on tight, okay?"

"So...what am I going to be doing when we get there. Will mother meet...hey!", Shinji asks her, only to get startled as she cranks up the speed and bursts through the streets in a flurry.

* * *

As she tries her best to get to HQ the fastest she can, a man falls right on top of the car, freaking her and Shinji out.

"Fuck!", Misato screams out. "This angel is relentless.".

* * *

Once she resumes her route, she pulls her cellphone out, calls the number of Rei's Evangelion and tells her, "Okay, Rei...engage!"

"Alright. Preparing to engage in combat." Rei replies.

* * *

Once Misato stops telling her things, Rei starts to get all giddy about fighting the angel, telling herself, "Okay...time to show this thing what i'm made of. Time to kick its ass!"

However, once the angel appears in her crosshires, her wides widen and her gleeful expression immediately twists into one of absolute fear and regret.

"Uhhhhh...ummmm...help?" Rei whimpers in distress.

"Rei..what's wrong?" Yui asks her.

"Engage the enemy!" Gendo shouts. "I repeat, Ms. Ayanami...ENGAGE THE ENEMY!"

"I...I...don't know now." Rei nervously replies. "Before, I was all 'hey i'm gonna kick its ass' and once it showed up, i'm went 'uh oh. I'm gonna get MY ass kicked'. This is not good, Commander. This is not good."

Gendo looks at Yui and irritatingly whispers, "and here I thought she was fearless. What the hell happened?"

"Gendo, my dear." Yui calmly whispers back. "She must've been thinking it was going to be some video game and now that she finally realizes that there's more at stake here, she probably just choked on us."

"Dammit!" Gendo growls. "Should've got our son over here first instead of Ayanami."

"I don't think that would've made any different, honey." Yui sighs in disappointment. "you could've just brought Asuka first in the first place and this wouldn't have happened."

"What's so special about Kyoko's daughter?" Gendo shrugs.

"She's got more experience, my love. Something Rei and our son doesn't have. Heck, why not we let Mari out of the surface to fight the angel?"

"No." Gendo grumbles. "I want my son and once he's here, I want him in action...with or without Ayanami and Makinami's assistance. In fact, Ms. Makinami has been ordered to protect the underground and if she leaves her position, it'll be vulnerable to enemy and angel attack."

"Okay okay, you win." Yui sighs as she leans against a nearby surface.

Gendo turns his attention back to Rei and shouts, "Okay...until my son gets up there, I want you to engage the angel...NOW!"

Rei tilts her head to the right, sighs at the sight of the angel and replies, "Ummmm...okay. Engaging the enemy."

She then tries to make her EVA carefully walk towards the enemy in a somewhat cartoonish way, looking like as if she's tightroping.

"Just try to engage the enemy." Rei tells herself. "Don't screw up now, there's too much at stake."

However, the angel grabs Unit 00 by the neck, tightens its clutches and sends it crashing into a high rise.

* * *

After Unit 00 slumps down to the ground, Gendo screams out, "Dammit Ms. Ayanami, you're not doing humanity a favor by not engaging the enemy."

"I'm sorry, i'm just...having trouble." Rei nervously stutters. "I don't know if I can engage the enemy."

"Rei. Don't be scared." Yui adds. "Remember how good you were in training?"

"Yeah, Mrs. Ikari." Rei sighs back. "but those were just simulations, not the real deal."

"Rei. Try and act like its just another simulation. See if that'll help." Yui replies, trying to help her get back into the groove of fighting the angel.

"Okay, Mrs. Ikari. Hang on." Rei sighs. She then closes her eyes, plants her hands over her face, muttering to herself, "Come on, Rei. You can do it. You can stop the angel. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."

She stretches her hands away from her face and onto the controls, takes a deep breath and adds, "Okay, angel. Ready or not, 'cause here I come!", which she makes Unit 00 get up and dash towards the angel with a renewed vigor.

* * *

Once she runs up to it, she tries to pull a jumping spin kick on it, yet the angel catches her by the leg and trips her down to the ground.

The angel gets down and starts to ground and pound Unit 00, which Rei can feel the surge of the blows rushing through her face.

Wincing, Rei manages to backhand the angel off of her to help get back on her feet.

"Looks like she's doing better now." Yui tells her husband.

"Not good enough." Gendo shrugs in a cold tone, being unsatisfied with Rei's performance. "She needs to directly confront and eliminate the enemy to satisfy me."

Unit 00 then grabs one of the angel's arms, pulls it away and docks it in the face, knocking it away and giving her enough room to get up and back away.

"Come on, Ayanami. Show that angel what you got!" Gendo shouts. "Don't hold back."

"Okay okay, Commander Ikari." Rei shrugs, then quietly groans, "Sheesh."

She then proceeds to rush at the angel and attempts to tackle it, only for it to catch her in its clutches, yet she manages to nudge forward hard enough to push it down.

"Rei, here's your chance." Yui shouts at her.

"Engage the angel!" Gendo yells.

"Okay...here I go." Rei tells herself, still sounding a bit unconfident about herself.

* * *

She then proceeds to try to ground and pound the angel, but the angel tries its best to protect itself by smacking her arms away, yet Rei instead smacks the angel's arms away and pounds on its face like if it was a punching bag.

The angel grabs Unit 00's neck with its left arm and swiftly smacks it away it with its right arm, sending it rolling into a nearby building and hitting it hard enough to cause some debris to crumble down.

"Oh crap." Rei shouts in a worrisome tone. "Is there any civilians inside?"

"No." Maya calmly replies. "The radar detects no activity inside the building. Its been evacuated."

Rei then exhales in relief, but without hesitation, she makes Unit 00 get up and deliver a running punch, sending the angel a few steps back right into a building behind it.

* * *

The angel regains its balance and lunges itself towards Unit 00, but Rei groans and asks, "Oh come out.", which she clenches her fist onto the right hand control and clocks the angel with a hard right hook.

In a split second, Unit 00 takes a prog knife out, twirls it around and gets into a fighting stance.

"Rei...are you sure this is gonna work?" Yui asks her, being a bit confused over seeing her pull out the prog knife.

"I think i'll do fine, Doctor Ikari." Rei replies, sounding more confident than ever during the fight.

"Ayanami...you're aware that the angel might use its AT Field against you, right?" Maya asked Rei in a worrisome tone.

"Oh don't worry." Rei replied, sounding completely confident in herself. "I got this covered."

"Oookay, Rei." Yui calmly replies with a hint of uncertainty in her voice. She then turns her head towards her husband and grumbles, "Do you really think your idea of a motivational speech was that great of an idea?"

"Oh don't worry, Yui." Gendo smirks. "Ms. Ayanami is just gonna do fine."

"I hope you're right, honey." Yui quietly groans back. She then turns to Ritsuko and asks, "Any word on Ms. Katsuragi?"

"Not yet, Doctor Ikari." Ritsuko calmly replies. "Misato has not called me back since she communicated with the pilots."

"Damn." Yui quietly scoffs. "I hope she's doing fine...and taking good care of my son."

* * *

Unit 00 stands with its prog knife in hand, waiting for the angel to make its first attack.

The angel keeps still, looking at Zero, knowing that its waiting to strike, but rather than staying still, it clenches its fists and runs full tilt towards the EVA with malicious intentions.

Yet right when it passes by Zero, it stops cold in its tracks to clamp its hands on its stomach.

* * *

The angel looks down and sees blood dribbles through its fingers, which at that moment, the pain hits it and starts to get down on its knees.

"Rei...what the hell did you do?" Yui gasps after seeing the angel get on its knees.

"Well...I just stood there and let the angel run past me and once it got close, I just took a swift swipe at it with my prog knife and it managed to just...well...work." a somewhat speechless Rei tries her best to explain what she did to injure the angel.

However, Gendo then shouts, "Don't just stand there, Ms. Ayanami. FINISH IT!"

Rei shifts her eyes around, gulps and replies, "Okay Commander Ikari."

"Good." Gendo coldly replies back, which he then twists his lips into a grim grin.

* * *

Unit 00 then walks up to the kneeled angel with its bloodied prog knife in hand.

The angel looks at the EVA, notices the prog knife and tries to backhand it away, but instead the EVA quickly slices the prog knife through the angel's wrist, cleanly severing its hand from its arm.

The angel's eyes widen in horror as blood spurts from the fresh stump, splashes down to the streets and drip on its arm, but before it could refocus its attention on the EVA, Unit 00 violently thrusts its prog knife into the angel's chest and knocks it off its feet with a debilitating punch to the face, which amounts to the knuckles of Zero's right hand digging deep into the angel's skeletal bird-like face, harshly cranking its neck towards its back.

"FINISH THE ANGEL, MS. AYANAMI!" Gendo yells. "FINISH IT NOW!"

"Okay, okay." Rei grumbles back.

Unit 00 tilts its head at the injured angel, which is writhing in pain on the ground and its stump profusely bleeding. It positions itself in front of the downed angel, lifts the prog knife and to the horror of Nerv's staff, starts savagely stabbing it.

The knife penetrates through the angel's skin, viciously shredding it up and forcing blood to drool out of the wounds like a river.

"Rei...what the hell?" Yui shouts in a disgusted tone.

However, Gendo then looks at his wife and calmly adds, "Yui, my love. Don't interrupt the pilot when she's doing her job. She's doing fine."

"Fine...fine?" Yui gasps in horror. "I'm all for protecting mankind from these angels, but I highly disapprove of this appalling display of pure savagery."

Rather than hearing his wife, Gendo simply ignores her, instead telling Rei, "Keep it up. You're making us proud."

However, Rei, for some reason, doesn't reply back.

"Strange." Gendo mutters. "Guess she's way into this brutality rubbish. Oh well."

Tidal waves of blood, guts and entrails splash onto Unit 00 as its continued stabbing of the dying angel grows more alarmingly brutal and senseless.

Rather than just eliminating the angel, Unit 00 has become a makeshift butcher, treating the angel as a slab of meat as it continues to reduce it to a jagged, bloodied, blistered open torso.

However, Unit 00 finally stops its business by moving away from the angel, revealing that its completely drenched in blood and angel innards, looking like the victim of a horrible automobile accident. The prog knife noticeably has a chunk of flesh and muscle tissue dangling on it like a piece of bubblegum stuck on the bottom of a tennis shoe.

* * *

"Rei...Rei...can you hear me?" Yui, looking all pale faced as if she witnessed an alleyway rape, quietly asks

Rei stutters a little at first, but then replies, "The angel...its done. I finished it." with an eerie, nearly emotionless tone in her voice.

"Good job, Ms. Ayanami." Gendo replies. "Report back to HQ to get cleaned up. Our work here is done."

"Okay." Rei replies back, retaining the dead tone in her voice.

Unit 00 wipes the flesh and innards off its prog knife and puts it back in place then starts to walk back to HQ, leaving the torso, entrails and severed limbs of the angel behind.

* * *

With Unit 00 walking away from it, the torso of the deceased angel starts to vibrate.

Its head then cocks forward, shaking violently with its beak starting to split apart, revealing a mouth adorned with razor sharp teeth and a bright red tongue that whips around like a tail ready to lash out. Blood and pus squirt out of the eye holes as new, freaky darting eyeballs pop into place.

Drool drips out of its newly formed mouth as slimy tentacles and new spiked, jagged, crustacean-like arms and legs burst out of the torso, which tears its dangling skin off, revealing a dark, sickly greenish spiked and jagged shell covered in a translucent slime.

"Oh this is not good." Maya chokes. "This is not good."

"What's wrong, Ms. Ibuki?" Gendo asks her.

"I'm reading vital signs in the angel. They're off the charts and I mean...OFF THE CHARTS!" Maya shouts back.

"Shit!" Gendo grunts. He then turns his attention to Rei and tells her, "Ms. Ayanami, we have a problem."

"What is it Commander Ikari?" Rei calmly asks.

"Cancel the celebration, the angel is still alive. I repeat. THE ANGEL IS STILL ALIVE!" Gendo shouts.

Rei's face, at first, remains blank, but then she blinks her eyes, tilts her head to the right, shakes it, then yells "WHAT?" with a look of total bewilderment

"Yes, I know, Ms. Ayanami." Gendo grumbles in disappointment. "Just try and stop it again. We're all counting on you."

"Okay, okay." Rei scoffs. She then starts smacking her hands against her face, grumbling, "Come on, Rei, come on. You can do it. You can do it. Just take it easy."

Unit 00, still drenched in blood, clenches its fists, turns around and sees the angel.

Rei's eyes widen in absolute horror as she's taken aback by the sight of the angel's new look.

"Ummmmm...Commander Ikari?" Rei quietly asks.

"What is it, Ms. Ayanami?" Gendo replies.

"I think I got a real problem on my hands." Rei gulps as she replies with an extremely nervous tone.

"Yes, I see." Gendo replies back as he looks at the monitor and sees the angel's new form. "Just try to do your best. My son is on the way, so you'll be getting reinforcement real soon."

"But what about Mari?" Rei yells, being confused over why her superior is so adamant in having his son help her out rather than someone with more experience. "As much as I like to meet your son, Mari has arguably far more experience than him and even me. Why not send her in to help my ass out."

However, Gendo cuts her off, coldly replying, "No. No can do. Mari and Unit 05 stays underground and that's final."

"Man, that's lame." Rei quietly grumbles under her breath, then replies, "Okay, Commander Ikari. I understand."

"Good." Gendo replies back, then starts flicking his right hand and adds, "now go and stop the angel...again. We're counting on you."

"Yes, Commander Ikari." Rei shrugs.

* * *

Unit 00, still drenched in blood, takes its prog knife out and slowly approaches the angel.

Before it could try to even attack, the angel's tentacles pounce on Zero and latches onto it.

Rei then feels a vibrating jolt surge through her body as Unit 00 is being dragged closer to the angel. She clamps down on her controls, trying her hardest to resist the surging pain.

"Come on, Rei. Think of a way to get out of this jam...THINK!" Rei quietly grumbles as she tries her hardest to come up with a plan to escape the angel's clutches.

Unit 00 tries to cut itself loose from the tentacles, but another one sprouts forth and snatches the prog knife out of its hand, much to Rei's dismay.

"Damn it!" Rei growls in frustration.

Unit 00 then tries its hardest to stretch its arms out of the clutches of the angel's tentacles and plants its hands on a nearby rod.

The tentacles tries to keep a hold of Unit 00, but the EVA ends up breaking free, stands up and starts to run right towards the angel.

Not letting itself run right into the angel, Unit 00 instead jumps up, extends its right leg and attempts to knock the angel back with a diving kick, but the angel manages to catch it, profoundly shocking and pissing off Rei in the process.

"Damn you. Damn you!" Rei yells at the top of her lungs as Unit 00 frantically scrambles to get out of the angel's clutches, but the angel pins it against the ground with force.

Unit 00 swings a hard right punch directed at the angel's freakish, drooling face, but it catches its arm and effortlessly twists it in stomach churning direction, forcing a splash of blood to squeeze right out of the wound.

Rei's face twists into an expression of utter horror and pain as she belts out an almost inhuman scream while she sees her right arm twist into an unnatural position that would make anyone feel queasy at its sight.

"Rei's heart rate is rising." Maya shouts out. "and her vital signs are not looking good."

"How high is her sync ratio?" Yui asks.

"Average at best, yet it doesn't make any sense." Maya replies back as she sways her head around. "How can someone with such a normal sync rate be suffering this horribly?"

"You know?" Yui responds. "Remember how it seemed that whenever Rei was inside the EVA during her training, it felt like there was this aura present. Very, very strange."

"Come on, Doctor Ikari." Maya shouts back. "Please simplify that for me."

"Okay, Ms. Ibuki." Yui groans. "All I trying to say is that I felt something very otherworldly whenever I saw Rei inside Zero during her training. Like if an otherworldly force would connect with her and make her stronger."

"Okay. First you speculate that Rei was able to fire guns well because of her playing some silly video games, but now you digress that its something else?" Maya shouts back in response. "Sometimes you make no sense at all."

"Enough." Gendo yells. "All that matters now is that the angel is overpowering Rei and Unit 00. The sooner Misato arrives with my son, the better."

"Gendo, my love." Yui groans. "Sometimes you give me a headache."

* * *

Unit 00, despite having a broken right arm, tries to kick itself away from the angel, but the angel easily clamps one of its hands down against its neck.

Rei begins to feel like she's suffocating and starts to cough up a storm.

The angel raises one of its arms up, extends its claws and in a blinding flash, scrape right through Unit 00's face, breaking through the plating and forcing blood to spew out.

* * *

Blood splatters on Rei's control panel. She moves her left hand towards the right side of her face and to her horror, ghastly deep claw marks mirroring the ones on Zero has appeared. When she looks at her left hand, the palm is dripping with blood.

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Rei gasps. "Am I dying?"

* * *

The angel, not satisfied with the damage its done to Zero, starts to pierce through more of its armor, causing more blood to spray out in response.

Numb and defenseless, Rei simply sits still as the pain gets increasingly more excruciating and blood starts to seep through her plugsuit in several spots.

The angel then clenches its fingers and starts to pound on Unit 00's damaged face like if it was ground beef.

* * *

As the angel wails on Zero's face with its fists, Rei's face becomes adorned with ugly bruises. Her nose gets broken with blood dripping out of her nostrils and her lips grow fatter as small blisters on it pop open, allowing blood to flow right out.

Her head violently jerks back into her seat as the angel continues to pound on Zero's face, eventually just grabbing its head and starts beating it into the pavement, though it does more damage to the road than the EVA.

However, Rei's head keeps violently jerking back and forth simultaneously with Unit 00's.

* * *

Suddenly, the angel stops abusing Unit 00, lets go of its head and scurries away looking to resume wrecking having on Tokyo-3.

Rei's head slams back into her seat. She looks zoned out and opens her mouth, which blood spews out and splashes on her lap.

* * *

"Oh god." Maya gasps in horror.

"What's wrong, Ms. Ibuki?" Gendo asks.

"Rei's vital signs. They're bad. Really bad." Maya slowly replies with a hint of despair in her voice.

"How serious is it?" Yui asks her.

"I think she's dying." Maya replies, sounding dead serious.

"Oh shit." Gendo mutters under his breath, then replies back, "Any status on Katsuragi?"

* * *

"Commander Ikari, this is Captain Katsuragi." Misato's voice replies. "I am outside HQ, but..."

"But what?" Gendo asks her, readjusting his glasses.

"I need help getting through HQ." Misato replies with an embarrassed tone. "I took too much time trying to get out of here and I don't want to get lost again just to bring your son to you."

"Okay then, Captain Katsuragi." Gendo nods. "I'll see if Ritsuko can help you ou..."

"Hold on, Commander Ikari." Mari shouts out. "I can help."

"But...but...but what about protecting HQ's underground sector?" Gendo asks her as his face gives off a dopey look..

"My love, I don't think the angel would try to get to Terminal Dogma at this point." Yu adds. "besides, don't you want our son to rescue the First and stop the angel as you wish?"

Gendo looks around, sighs, then replies, "Okay honey, okay Mari. You both win.". He then shouts, "Mari, disengage from your EVA and help escort Captain Katsuragi and my son Shinji. Do it as quickly as possible, though, okay?"

"Affirmative, guv'nor." Mari replies with a grin.

Unit 05 then shuts down, which the entry plug pops out and opens up, allowing Mari to exit.

* * *

Despite being drenched in LCL, Mari makes a mad dash towards the entrance to HQ.

First, she opens a door that takes her into the EVA cage, then bypasses the otherwise useless elevator Commander Ikari has installed in favor of the stairs, which are a much less time consuming way to get to the lobby. After that, she runs through the lobby, avoids bumping into several Nerv employees passing by, gets on the escalator and gets right to the big metal shutter that doubles as the entryway to which she opens up the door and is greeted by Captain Katsuragi and a Japanese boy around her age in a school uniform.

"Hello Ms. Makinami." Misato tells her with sincere gratitude. "Thank you for taking the time to escort me and the Third Child."

"Thank you Captain Katsuragi." Mari replies. She looks at the boy and asks, "Say...aren't you the Ikaris' son Shinji Ikari...right?"

"Ummm yes." the boy calmly replies.

Misato looks at the children and tells them, "Ummmm...save the introductions for when the angel has been eliminated, Shinji need to get to Central Dogma fast."

"What is Central Dogma?" Shinji asks.

"Your parents can fill you in later." Misato replies.

She then shifts her attention to Mari and asks, "Can you kindly escort us to Central Dogma now?"

"Yes guv'nor." Mari nods with a jolly grin. "Just follow me."

She then prances towards the same path she took to get there.

* * *

As they make their way to Central Dogma, Misato asks Mari, "So...how's Rei doing in the fight?"

Mari stops, turns around, glares at her and replies in a cold tone, "She's not doing too good."

"What?" Misato replies back with a look of confusion. "I thought she was...like the greatest pilot we could ever get. What happened?"

"Its not pretty." Mari replies with a solemn tone. "She's dying. The angel really messed her up."

"Oh god." Misato stammers. "You're...you're not kidding, right?"

"No." Mari nods. "I wish I was, but i'm not. From what I understand, the angel...did something freaky and damaged Unit 00 to the point where the damage, I guess...physically manifested on Rei herself. I dunno, that's the impression I got when I heard the grown-ups talking."

"Oh shit!" Misato shouts. "We need to stop wasting time and...say, why aren't you out there helping Rei?"

"Ask Commander Bollocks." Mari shrugs. "He's soooo insistent on getting Shinji out there to fight the angel."

"Ummmmm what?" Shinji calmly asks, having no clue of what the others are talking about.

"You'll see when we get there." Mari replies, patting Shinji on his left shoulder.

"Mari, Shinji..let's not waste anymore time." Misato shouts. "Come on, let's go!"

They both nod, with Mari resuming the lead and continue off making their way to Central Dogma.

* * *

Once inside Central Dogma, Yui and the others see the gang show up.

The one that captures her attention the most is her son Shinji.

"Ummm...hi mother." Shinji quietly greets her as he steps in with Misato and Mari.

"Oh Shinji, my dear son." Yui joyfully tells him as she hugs him. "I'm so glad to see you again. Its been a month since I last saw you, right?"

"Yes, mother." Shinji quietly replies.

* * *

However, after he ad his mother finish hugging, his eyes manage to catch a glimpse of his father, which sucks the joy out of his voice.

"Father?" Shinji quietly mutters as he takes a few steps back.

"Shinji?" Gendo quietly responds with a nervous look on his face. "It...its been a while."

Shinji shifts his eyes, gives his father a glare and quietly mutters back, "I know. So what do you want from me?"

Gendo then cocks his head, grins and gleefully shouts, "I have what may be the GREATEST present you'll ever get!"

"Present?" Shinji asks.

"Yes, Shinji." Gendo nods and replies with a goofy grin. "A present."

"Ooookay." Shinji replies, still sounding a bit distant.

"Just close your eyes." Gendo orders him. "Your mother will guide the way."

* * *

Yui then walks up to her husband and whispers, "Ahem. We have an EVA pilot dying out there, right?"

"Oh yes oh yes. This won't take too long." Gendo whispers back. "I'm just gonna show our son his EVA and after that, he's gonna get his butt into it without any questions."

"Good, my love." Yui whispers. She pats him on the back and adds "I just don't want you to forget that we still have an angel to eliminate."

Gendo refocuses his attention on Shinji, who has closed his eyes already, and tells him, "Okay son. Follow me."

Shinji nods in response and Yui helps guide the way by standing behind him and giving him directions where to go.

* * *

"Okay Shinji...OPEN YOUR EYES!" Gendo shouts at him.

Shinji opens his eyes and sees the face of Unit 01, which instantly startles him.

"What...what is that?" Shinji stammers in shock.

"Shinji, my son. That...is Evangelion Unit One and I want you to pilot it." Gendo boasts with much gusto.

"Ummmm...what are you talking about?" Shinji asks him, sounding puzzled by the whole turn of events.

"Well...heh...this present of yours is a real piece of work." Gendo replies, looking a little embarrassed. "What I need you to do is get into it and...ummm...fight evil."

"Fight evil?" Shinji asks. "I don't get it. You made me come over here just to...fight crime?"

"Welll...ummmm...yeah." Gendo replies back, looking increasingly more nervous as he scratches his head.

"Father...i'm not eight. I don't like Super Sentai anymore." Shinji shrugs.

"Well..this isn't going very well." Gendo ponders to himself.

"What the heck was father thinking when getting me this?" Shinji groans to himself.

"Well okay." Gendo replies. "However...I didn't tell you the truth about this piece of work."

"What is it, father?" Shinji asks him.

"That machine...the Evangelion...I need you to pilot it." Gendo replies.

"Pilot it?" Shinji asks his father, sounding a bit irritated and confused.

"Yes...like...right now." Gendo replies back. "You see...in case you haven't seen for yourself, there's a giant beast out there called an angel. There's someone outside who really needs your help and we want you to come to her aid."

"So...this is why you guys wanted me here?" Shinji asks them.

"Unfortunately...yes." Yui replies as she nods her head in sorrow. "but your father wants you to go out there and fight the angel right now."

"Why, mother. Why, father. Why?" Shinji questions them. "Why did I have to move away to live with the Rokubungis', why?"

"Yeah, Doctor Ikari..." Misato adds as she steps in. "...why did you and Commander Ikari make Shinji live with the Rokubungis'?"

"Ummmm...let's...take this to the back, Captain Katsuragi." Yui told Misato, which she nods back and follows her.

* * *

Once they're a distance away from Gendo and Shinji, Yui tells Misato, "Misato, the thing is that I want Shinji to live with me and his father, but if you recall...there was a few...ugly accidents that happened a few years ago prior to the forming of Nerv."

"Yes...the accidents back in the Gehirn days. I've heard about them. Please elaborate for me?" Misato asks her.

"Okay." Yui replies, sounding reserved. "First off...I nearly died during an early sync test with Unit 01. Even though I took it hard, my beloved son was traumatized. Traumatized so badly that he looked disconnected from the world. It was depressing. Then...several months later, Dr. Naoko Akagi went insane."

"Insane?" Misato asks her, sounding a bit puzzled by this information. "Yes, I knew Ritsuko's mother committed suicide, but she went insane?"

"Yes, Misato." Yui nods in a depressing motion. "One day, the Ayanamis', who are old college friends of me and my husband, asked if they could drop Rei off. Since Shinji was still living with us at the time, we went 'Okay...go ahead.'. Shinji was still withdrawn from the world, so we had Ritsuko go play with her. Unfortunately, she decided not to watch over her and got her into a game of Hide and Seek. During this time, as far as I know, entered Naoko's lab and...for some reason, she was strangling her. Had me and Gendo arrived any sooner, Rei would not be with us."

"My god, that is terrible." Misato replies, sounding shocked.

"After we saved Rei's life, Naoko committed suicide and the reorganization of Gehirn into Nerv, I just could not bare having the thought of another employee going mad and attempting to murder another child, let alone my own son. So me and my husband agreed to a "No Children" rule for Nerv and I was relieved of my burden." Yui explains to Misato.

"That's your excuse?" Misato scoffs back. "You sent your own son off to your in-laws just because you couldn't have him at work anymore?"

"Ummmm...unfortunately it is." Yui quietly replies. "I wanted him to get back to his senses and take time off of Project E to help him out until it was time for him to pilot Unit 01, which my husband wanted me to do, but Seele refused. They wanted me to continue work on Project E alongside Gendo and leave my son behind to fend on his own, them rotten old bastards."

"Come on, Doctor Ikari." Misato shouts back. "That's no excuse to send your son off to your in-laws, especially after he's been traumatized by your near-death experience."

Yui lowers her shoulders, sighs and replies, "I...am so sorry. I...love my son a lot. Ever since me and Gendo got him through therapy and sent him off to my in-laws, I always took the time to visit him every month and call him every day. I never, ever wanted to send him away.." which she starts to tear up and cry.

Regretting her harshness, Misato walks up to Yui, hugs, pats her on the back and quietly tells her, "Hey hey, Doctor Ikari. Don't be hard on yourself. I didn't know that you went through all of that. If you're not ready having Shinji move back in with you guys, he can live with me until you're ready."

Yui wipes the tears off her face and replies, "Well...I really wanted to have Shinji move back in...I can see him being pretty uncomfortable around his father, so this will work out fine."

"Uncomfortable around his father?" Misato asks Yui. "Why?"

"Gendo...has not spoken with Shinji since therapy." Yui sighs while replying.

"Why?" Misato asks her.

"He was...too afraid to, so he dug deeper into his work and decided to not speak to him. Of course, he still loves him with all his heart, he's just...scared to death to talk to him outside of a work setting.", Yui replies with a depressing sigh.

"Oh jeez...so this why he's telling Shinji that Unit 01 is a present." Misato inquires. "Then again...I didn't have that great of a relationship with my father either."

"Yeah, I know." Yui replies as she pats her on the back. "but we need to get back to the boys. We still have that angel running around and Rei is dying out there!"

"Yeah, that's right." Misato replies back. "Let's see what father and son are up to."

Yui nods back and follows her as Misato runs back to Central Dogma.

* * *

However...once they get there, they see that Shinji is not there.

"Honey...where's our son?" Yui asks her husband, who has a big grin on his face.

"Oh he's in Unit 01. I told him that someone is dying out there and needs his help. He was a little hesitant at first, but I told him I would give him some yen and a Playstation 4 in return." Gendo boasts.

"and did you tell him that he'll have to keep piloting it for the sake of mankind?" Yui asks him.

"Not at the moment. We can tell him that later." Gendo shrugs back. "Its not biggie."

"Whatever." Yui grumbles in response and proceeds to walk away.

* * *

She passes by Mari, who's sitting on the floor and asks, "Say...Ms. Makinami, why are not back in Unit 05. Wouldn't the Commander freak out seeing you in here?"

"The Commander told me that i'm not needed in Unit 01 because he believes Shinji is so gonna kick the angel's ass."

"Oh brother." Yui groans and facepalms in response.

* * *

Gendo then turns around and focuses his attention on the monitor, which shows Shinji inside his entry plug.

"Shinji, you're okay?" Gendo asks him.

"Yes, father." Shinji quietly replies, then tells himself, "If only he told me about the LCL..."

"Good." Gendo replies back with a grin. "Now...we're all counting on you to stop the angel and save your fellow pilot."

"Yes yes, I know." Shinji responds, then tells himself, "I still don't get why he wouldn't let that Mari girl do this job instead."

"Good." Gendo tells him. "Now...me and your mother will be back here monitoring your progress while Captain Katsuragi and the Bridge Bunnies help you make progress...understand?"

"Yes, father." Shinji quietly replies as he nods in response.

After Gendo and Yui sit down, Misato makes her way to the monitor and asks Shinji, "Okay...how you're doing there, kid?"

* * *

"I'm okay, Captain Katsuragi." Shinji replies back.

"Good." Misato replies back with a slight smile.

"Okay Shinji." Maya speaks to him. "Try to make Unit 01 walk."

"Ummm...okay." Shinji quietly replies back, not exactly knowing how to process that in his head.

He tries his best to get Unit One's feet moving, which one leg manages to carefully move up and land down on the ground.

"Good job, Shinji." Maya replies back while giving him a warm smile, "now try and walk."

"Okay, okay." Shinji quietly replies.

Unit 01 tries its best to walk, but loses its balance and lands down hard on the pavement.

"Ooooooh...nasty." Gendo quips in response, which prompts Yui to slap him.

"I'm sorry guys." Shinji apologizes to his superiors

"Don't blame yourself." Maya replies. "You'll get the proper training in the upcoming weeks...right?", which she turns her head and looks at the Ikaris, who nod in response.

She then glances back at Shinji and orders him, "Alright, now try and stand up."

"Okay." Shinji quietly replies.

* * *

However, he feels a force pinning down on his back and a warm sensation on the back of his neck, which Maya shouts to him, "On second thought...don't. In fact, stay very, very still."

"My neck feels wet." Shinji replies, sounding a little confused.

Little does Shinji know that the angel he's been sent out to fight has taken the advantage by pinning Unit 01 down on the ground. It leers its head against One with its mouth wide open and tongue hanging out, causing drool and slobber to dribble onto One's neck.

"What is holding me down?" Shinji shouts at his superiors in a panicked tone.

"Don't worry, Shinji." Misato replies. "Just remain still."

"Uhhhh...okay." Shinji quietly replies back, albeit with a slight whimper in his voice.

The angel nudges its hideous face closer to Unit One's head and starts to lick its face, tasting the cold metal of its helmet.

It starts to sniff One, but eventually finds it to be of no interest and scurries away.

Shinji feels the weird sensations go away and asks, "Um...what just happened?"

"Shinji...that was the angel." Misato replies. "Luckily it decided not to attack you..for now. I advise that you engage it when you see it."

"Ummm...okay." Shinji nods quietly replies back.

"Alright Shinji...try standing back up again." Maya asks him.

He simply nods in response and tries to get Unit 01 back on its feet. Although he struggles a little, a feeling of satisfaction flows through his body of succeeding the rather simple task of getting his Evangelion standing back up.

* * *

However, his buzz dies hard when a disturbing, hellish screech breaks his attention and Unit 01 is tackled down by the angel.

"Shinji!" Yui screams in horror as she witnesses the angel attacking Unit 01.

* * *

Unit 00's horrendously damaged body lays near a wrecked side of the evacuated Tokyo-3.

Inside the entry plug, Rei lays bloodied, disturbingly bruised and all around is a mess.

Vicious fresh clawmarks adorn the right side of her face secrete blood, her eye is all bruised, black and blue.

Rather than looking like the angelic 13 year old she is, Rei's face looks a bit lumpy and puffy due to the cuts and bruises received from the angel's attack.

Her right arm, however, looks the worst.

All twisted and stomach churning crooked, showing massive tell tale signs of it being flat out broken and fractured.

So damaged and wrecked to the point that it should be amputated.

Rei, at first, is unconscious, yet her eyes slowly open.

Regaining her conscious, Rei looks rather zoned out as she slowly moves back up to the controls of her entry plug to resuming controlling her EVA.

Rather than uttering a word, more blood and even some vomit dribbles out of her mouth and nostrils as she tries to get her EVA back up, despite being unable to use her right arm.

Unit 00, looking like it has seen better days as well, wobbles like a drunk as it slowly begins to stand back up and walks away as if its being drawn to a particular area of choice like a magnet.

* * *

"Shinji...try and push the angel away." Gendo barks, trying to order his son to fight back.

"I'm trying...but...I can't!" Shinji yells back, sounding frustrated over the situation and fearful of his mortality.

The angel is treating Unit 01 like a punching bag, smacking and tossing it around like a toy with ease.

Unit 01 crashes into a nearby building, tumbling down to the pavement like a ragdoll.

* * *

With Unit 01 on the ground, the angel crawls towards it, getting real close.

It leers towards the EVA's face. Opens its mouth and looks as if its gonna try and eat One's head.

"I'm receiving vital signs from nearby." Maya shouts out. "and they're off the scales!"

"What?" Gendo shouts back from a distance. "Who's vital signs are those?"

"Its Rei and Unit 00!" Maya yells in response.

"...how could that be?" Gendo stammers back.

The angel, with its head right up to Unit 01's face, widens its mouth and gets ready to dig it, but behind it stands Unit 00, still looking like a blood drenched mess and with a posture that suggests malicious intents.

* * *

The angel gets ready to bite a nice, big bite, but is snatched away by Unit 00 without warning, tossed right into a building.

Much to everyone's shock Unit 00 raises its broken, mangled right arm and starts to move it around and even clutches its fist.

"But...but...but how?" Gendo continues to stammer in shock. Everyone else except Maya has equally surprised looks on their faces as well.

"Rei's sync ratio are really off the scales!" Maya shouts back, seeming to be unfazed by the action unfolding by her eyes.

"That...I give up." Gendo shrugs, getting tired over being puzzled by what just happened with Unit 00. "If it means the angel is close to elimination, i'm all for it."

Shinji, realizing that Unit 00 is looming over Unit 01, gets back up and moves closer to the control panel.

Rei, rather than uttering a word, makes Unit 00 help Unit 01.

* * *

Once Unit 01 is standing up, Shinji asks, "Umm...are you Rei Ayanami?"

However, the monitor showing off Rei's face is blacked out, only for her to coldly reply, "Go."

"Go?" Shinji asks her. "Where?"

"HQ." Rei replies back, retaining the borderline emotionless quality to her voice.

Shinji nods in response and replies, "Okay.", which he makes Unit 01 walk back to HQ to get out of the way.

* * *

With Shinji out of the fight, Rei scans the area to see if the angel is near by so she can finish her mission, only to see that is has walked elsewhere behind her back.

"Damn." she quietly growls to herself and makes Unit 00 walk to find it.

* * *

"Damn cellphone. Why can't I just call Kensuke to ask him where he is?" Toji grumbles as he sits on the couch of his home, trying to get a hold of his friend via cellphone.

"Toji, Tojo. I see something!" a little girl shouts out to him.

"Sakura, all there is to see is a bunch of debris and military tanks. There shouldn't be anything of interest for you." Toji yells back.

"But Toji...the thing I see is scaring me!" Sakura whimpers back, sounding fearful of what she's seeing.

The thing in question is the angel, who's salivating over Toji's sister, planning to make her a snack.

* * *

However, loud thuds outside startle her, backing herself against the wall and crouching down as the thuds get louder and closer to the house.

The angel turns its head and in a split second, crashes right into it and causing Sakura to fly up into the air and crash through a window.

Toji, startled by the loud crash, runs into the room and sees the angel and her sister falling in the air.

"SAKURA!" Toji screams at the top of his lungs in utter horror.

* * *

However, a giant arm covered in armor extends its arm out to Sakura and catches her.

With Sakura in its arm, Unit 00 helps her down to the floor right next to her sister and rather than explaining itself, grabs a hold of the angel and drags it out of the wrecked house back into the streets.

With the angel and the giant robot gone, Toji kneels down to his sister and asks, "Are you okay?"

"I'm hurt." Sakura quietly replies, but then falls unconscious, leaving Toji worrying for her safety.

* * *

Back in the streets, Unit 00 and the angel continue to duke it out.

The angel crawls on the building, but when it tries to leap right into the EVA, Unit 00 instead grabs a hold of it and tosses it right down to the ground, trying to stab it with its prog knife.

The angel tries to claw the prog knife away with its left arm, but the EVA instead grabs a hold of its arm and snaps it into two, causing a splash of blood to splatter on the ground.

Not satisfied enough with breaking the angel's arm, Rei clenches her teeth and makes Unit 00 flat out rip the angel's broken arm off completely, forcing an even stronger flow of blood to flow out of its stump.

* * *

Even with its left arm severed, the angel backs away from Unit 00 and jumps on a wall to plan its next attack.

Ready to attack, the angel jumps off the building and lunges right at Unit 00 with its mouth wide open, but Rei has her own plans and when the angel gets close to it, Unit 00 shoves its arm right into the angel's throat, catching it altogether.

The angel tries to scramble its way out of Unit 00's clutches, but the EVA refuses to pull its arm out, causing the angel to choke and cough.

* * *

Unit 00 leans its head towards the suffocating angel, which starts to make stomach churning gurgling sounds, secrete saliva and vomit. Knowing its suffering, Zero flat out yanks its arm out and pulls out a red orb.

* * *

The angel falls down, writhing in pain. Its skin starts to liquify and melt, yet refusing to go without a pain, leaps right onto Unit 00, expands like a balloon and without warning, explodes.

* * *

Near by, a shadowy figure in a black trenchcoat and hat gazes its eye on a huge, long burning cross suspending in the air, only to quickly fade away.

"God, is that a message from you?" the person quietly asks. "What does this mean?"

The woman then rolls her eyes, revealing her scarred facial features and yells, "Yes, my lord and savior. I'll spread you words in blood and save everyone in this god forsaken city. I won't let you down, god. I won't!"

* * *

"The angel...has been neutralized." Maya quietly informs the others in HQ.

Unit 00, completely drenched in blood, slowly walks back to HQ.

* * *

However, it then stops dead in its tracks and slowly falls down, crashing right into a building.

"Get the paramedics!" Yui shouts. "Get Rei out of there...NOW!"


	9. Chapter 8: Damaged Self

**Chapter 8: Damaged Self

* * *

**

"Hurry up and get her into emergency. Her vital signs aren't very well!", Yui's voice commands the others.

They, as well as several of Nerv's personal medical team, are rushing the badly injured 13 year into emergency to get her patched up.

Rei Ayanami, the First Child, had defeated the Third Angel. Completely neutralized it, albeit with a massive consequence.

Her right arm, despite it temporarily fixing itself, is still a broken mess, profusely bleeding.

Her Right eye is surrounded by a bad, bloody black eye. Although she isn't permanently blinded in that eye at all, she suffered some bad facial injuries around that area and some minor injuries to her eye as well.

Other parts of her body are aching in pain, showing that despite her high synch rate and bond with her Evangelion, she shared as much pain as Unit 00 did.

She's being wheeled in on a stretcher with the help of Yui, Ritsuko, Misato and several medical workers. Mari, who is now out of her Evangelion, yet still in her plug suit, follows Rei to see if her friend will make it.

The Third Child, Shinji Ikari, also is following everyone, just to support the girl who had prevented him from suffering the same fate she very much did.

Although everyone else is aware of the pain she's suffering, Rei herself is barely conscious, with a medical respirator over her mouth to keep oxygen flowing in.

"Is...is she going to be alright?", Mari asked Yui in a concerned tone.

"Let's hope for the better", Yui replied in a equally concerned tone.

* * *

Inside the operation room, Yui, Ritsuko and the medical technicians have all lifted Rei off the stretcher and onto the operating table.

------

"We need some adhesive, bandages and other instruments. We need to clean up, disinfect and patch up those wounds immediately!", Ritsuko informed the other technicians as they all got into position.

They then hooked Rei up to an IV, a heart monitor and put an medical ventilator over her face to ensure her being sedated as they fixed her up. As they did those things, they also immediately removed her damaged plug suit, reducing her to being nude, even with The Third and Fifth Children standing in the hallway, watching over their fellow EVA pilot to see if she comes out of it well.

"So...that's the First? She...she saved my life when I was supposed to save her's.", Shinji asked Mari.

"Yeah. Surprised that she was even able to kill it with those injuries." Mari replied. "Funny thing is that she's been waiting to meet you for some time now and yet, now you're here and she's being treated for wounds."

"So...you think she'll make it?", Shinji asks Mari.

"I am very positive that she'll make it. She really seems like a tough cookie. Even tougher than I am.", Mari immediately responded.

* * *

The cold.

The open, extended cold.

------

"Where am I?", Rei asked to herself as she stood in the bluish, monochromatic horizon, completely naked.

Being confused by her surroundings, she then walked cautiously through the landscape. Her breath is visible, due to the icy coldness the location displays.

"Ayanaaaami. Ayanaaami." a faint, eerie voice calls out.

"Hello? Hello?", Rei calls out. Her voice echoes into the thick soundscape. "Anyone out there? Hello?"

She continues to walk throughout the empty landscape, not finding a single thing.

* * *

Various X-Ray scans are presented, showing the amount of damage Rei suffered in the fight.

------

"Her right arm, in particular is quite odd. Even though it was in a state of disrepair, it had just began to heal itself of all things.", Ritsuko calmly informed the others in the room in a fairly tone.

Along with Ritsuko was Yui, Misato and Maya Ibuki, who were all surprised to hear what Ritsuko told them. In the center was Rei herself, laying quietly in a hospital bed, dressed in a hospital gown. Ever since the other day, Rei hasn't yet returned to conscious.

"So..she'll be able to pilot Unit 00 again?", Misato asked

"Not until a month or two from now at the very least.", Yui replied.

"The various fractures she suffered, while they were incredibly horrifying initially, had healed up to being more normal affairs. It's just...baffling." Ritsuko informed the other women in the room.

"There's no way that she's got superhuman attributes! That's too silly and impossible of an hypothesis!", Maya barked out in confusion.

"Maybe she's able to endure pain far greater than anyone else. I alone is surprised that she was able to pull through it", Ritsuko replied.

"So is she going to ever regain conscious? Or is she in a coma of all things?!?", Misato asked in a worried tone

"She isn't in a coma, Misato. She's just resting like she should.", Yui replied. "So Shinji will be moving in to your place, Misato?"

"Yes. It'll be a pleasure to have another person around the house. It being just me and Pen-Pen can get a bit boring, so it shall add a bit of a flavor to have him around.", Misato replied

"Excuse me? You're letting your son move in...with Misato?", Ritsuko muttered in shock

"I and my husband has already authorized the decision. My darling will do just fine there.", Yui replied

"Suit yourself.", Ritsuko sneered in response.

"Come on, Rits. Me and Shinji will have fun.", Misato replied. "I can take care of him perfectly. I'm not exactly like how I was when you lived with me."

"I know. You two will do fine.", Yui replied.

Ritsuko stayed silent.

Maya then stepped into focus and told the others "Well, I gotta go. I got some important business to attend to.", and leaves, leaving Ritsuko, Misato and Yui inside the room, continuing to examine the x-rays.

* * *

"Ayanaaami. Ayanaaami.", the voice called out again.

"Come on, now. Show yourself!", Rei yelled at the voice. Her voice echoed again. "This isn't funny. I don't know who you are and I certainly don't know where the hell I am."

As she continued to walk, except with a slight traces of irritation in her movement.

The view has gotten even blue and colder looking and the setting had become more desolated looking.

She then found a door elevated off the ground. She walked up to it and opened the door, only to step in the room the door opened to.

* * *

"The first fight with the angel hadn't gone quite as well as we planned.", the old man with the visor informed Gendo, who was alone in the room. "Unit 00 and its pilot caused a major mess in the city. The removal of its remains will certainly cost much money from us."

"Of course, but isn't that what you wanted? Eliminating the angels to prevent Third Impact. In fact, if you're planning to gyp us by planning out Instrumentality, i'm pulling out.", Gendo informed the old men.

The old men stayed silent, until one with a pointy nose informed "The pilot of Unit 00's performance was...rough, to say the least and yet, you still insisted to bring in you and your wife's child into it, only to give Unit 01 to him as a toy."

"He'll start receiving the proper training now that the Forth Angel's arrival date is currently unknown.", Gendo replied

"Speaking of your wife.", an old man with glasses spoke up "Where is she? Playing with her beloved son?"

"She, the daughter of Dr. Katsuragi and Dr. Akagi are all looking over the First. Thing is that The First received some bad injuries in that fight...", Gendo replied

"Yet she and Unit 00 managed to defeat it even with the injuries." the old man with the visor replied.

"Correct. I believe that Unit 00 slightly went berserk during the fight", Gendo replied

"Still...you must do these battles without spiking up our costs, Commander Ikari. Dismissed", the old man in the visor replied, only for them to disappear once again.

* * *

Shortly after they vanished, footsteps were being heard in the room as two bright red lights were illuminating out of the darkness.

The Dark One has returned once again.

------

"So..that's the power of the Evangelion. Very impressive", The Dark One told Gendo in his iconic mechanical menace.

"Yes. So what is this of your concern?", Gendo asked The Dark One

"Is it, by any chance...possible for an adult to pilot an Evangelion?", The Dark One asked

"At this point, only children seem to be able to pilot them. What are you planning, Dark One? What kind of tricks you have up your sleeves now?", Gendo asked The Dark One

"Heh. You'll find out in time. In fact, I already dealt with the remains of the Third Angel. Its a burden that I taken off of you all", The Dark One replied as he then walked away into the darkness, only to become a part of it, leaving Gendo inside the room, alone.

* * *

Inside the room Rei stepped in, everything was black and white, including herself. It's as if life became a black and white movie.

However, as she keeps walking through the room, she then steps into something wet.

She looks down to the floor and sees that she has stepped on a puddle of blood. While everything else, including herself, is black and white, the blood is as red as it can get and its seeping from underneath another door.

Being curious, Rei then opens up the door to reveal a messy room, in which the entire floor is flooded in blood.

Even with this ghastly sight, Rei courageously ventures further into the room, right until she sees someone sitting in an office chair with the chair turned to its back. For some reason, the hair of the person closely resembles Rei's own.

"Hello? Are you the one that's been calling me?", Rei asked the person.

"Ayanaaaami. I've been waaaaiting", the voice clearly responded in its already established eerie tone

"Show yourself!", Rei yelled at the voice.

"As you wiiiiish.", the voice immediately responded. The chair then turned around to reveal a blood drenched, horribly mutilated looking doppelganger of Rei.

Rei gasps in response and clenches her mouth shut. However, after she did that, the doppelganger's lower jaw then disgustingly fell off, landing on the floor. another, far more monstrous jaw extracts out of where the jaw used to be, causing blood to splash out.

"See! You will soon join me!!!", the doppelganger demonically cackles, only for it to start laughing manically as the various pieces of flesh tear and fall off of it, causing Rei to scream in absolute horror...

...and to wake up in a hospital bed.

* * *

She then notices that a bandage is covering her right eye and that her right arm is in firmly crafted cast. She also sees that she's now wearing an hospital gown and notices beeping coming out of the heart monitor.

On the wall TV is an interview of sorts with Naomi Mifune, talking about her own accomplishments and such.

However, sitting in a chair by her is none other than the boy she saved. The Third Child, Shinji Ikari.

------

"You're...you're awake.", Shinji whispers.

Seeing that the very boy she's been waiting to meet for years is in the same room as her, she then sports an angelic smile and calmly replies in a slight rasp "So you're Shinji Ikari?"

"Correct.", Shinji replied.

"I've been waiting to meet you.", Rei responds as she smiles at the sight of Shinji.

"Such a nice looking cutie, if only I didn't get myself fucked up like this.", Rei mutters to herself in her head.


	10. Chapter 9: Friends Help

**Chapter 9: Friends Help

* * *

**

"So...how long did you know mom and dad?", Shinji asked Rei

"Well it goes back to when Gehrim was still around. My parents have been friends of your parents for years and that since they couldn't find anyone else to drop off to babysit me, they decided to drop me off at where your mom and dad live, right before they had to leave for work.", Rei replied, despite still feeling a bit woozy from a day of nonstop sleep and another day of suffering the pain.

"I guess I wasn't there when you got dropped off, right?", Shinji replied

"According to pops, he said that he asked if your ma and pop had any childre, of their own, they said that they did, but due to their job, they had to make him live with his aunt on his father's side, so no, I didn't see you that day.", Rei immediately replied.

"So that's why you've been wanting to meet me for so long", Shinji immediately replied

"Actually, I knew your parents before then. I guess they came over to visit my parents and such off and on. They would always talk to me, play games with me and such. Very cute, friendly stuff. Got along with them all along. Hell, I owe them for saving my life during my stay at Gehrim.", Rei responded, at first with her tone sounding sweet, but then turning melancholic at the mention of Gehrim.

"What happened there? Something serious?". Shinji asked, sounding worried, yet intrigued by his coworker's own life story

"Well, you see, Shinji. While I was playing a game of hide and seek with Ritsuko, I walked into a room where her mother was in. She...was acting weird, accusing me of calling her an old hag and such and then...", Rei told Shinji in frank detail, up until she then froze, resulting in her getting teary eyed and shaky.

"What...what did she do to you?", Shinji asked Rei in an extremely concerned tone

"She....strangled me.", Rei quietly responded, with a slight hint of a cry in her voice.

"But my parents ended up catching her choking you just in the nick of time before anything fatal could happen?", Shinji replied

"Yes.", Rei replied, in which her voice calmed down a little "If they came too late...I would've been dead."

Rei then starts crying over the fact that she, once again, had to remember that traumatic event to tell it to someone. However, Shinji then hugs her in an attempt to calm her down

"Relax, Ayanami. You've had it rough ever since I came here.", Shinji told Rei in a calm, relaxed voice that soothed Rei into calming down. "I heard that tomorrow that we'll be all in school. How's school around here."

"Well, for the most part, its alright. With the exception of bitchy ass Class Rep., everyone in there is cool.", Rei replied as she quickly wiped the tears off of her face, even though she isn't crying anymore, The feel of the tears being cleaned off also brought a slight warmness to her cheeks, which had been freezing since she's been crying.

"Heh. Well, in any case, Mari said she can stay at your place to help you get ready. After all, as she said, you need an helping hand, since one of your own is broken for the time being.", Shinji informed Rei, with a slight laugh in his voice

"Heh. Mari. As crazy as she is, she really does care.", Rei immediately replied, slightly laughing out a little as she responded.

"So...speaking of Mari...how is she. I just met the two of you in the last three days, so..care to give me some slight details of her?", Shinji asked Rei.

"Well...she's cool for one thing, though she can get a bit hard to understand at times with her dialect and slang, but that's alright. Doesn't bother me at all.", Rei quickly replied back.

"Ohh, so that's why she says those funny words!", Shinji immediately responded. "Well, I gotta go. My parents want me to do some tests with Unit 01. See you later!". He then left, waving his hand at Rei as he exited the room.

* * *

Rei, as Shinji left, waved back with her unharmed hand, but after he was gone, she then leaned back on her bed, let out a big sigh and said to herself "Shit. Can't even do anything worthwhile with my crippled ass current self."

She then leaned her head towards the television in the room and watched the interview that was on since she woke up.

"First, there was that documentary on this gal. Now this prolonged interview? I guess Mari was right. Expect to get sick of seing stuff about Naomi Mifune rather quickly indeed.", Rei griped. She then flipped the channel to one playing a movie in which the current sequence deals with a punk rocker with an afro complaining to another person, who is wearing a Mickey Mouse hat

"God dammit, Charlie. You and your shitty as fuck afro is gonna make us the laughing stock of the CBGB crowd!", the punk rocker with the Mickey Mouse hat told his buddy with the afro

"And your crap Mickey Mouse shit would do just the same thing", the afro haired punk rocker replied to his buddy

"Meh.", Rei exhaled as she then changed the channel.

An ancient movie made from many years ago was playing. It took place in some fancy looking american house, in which a woman was crying to a guy with a mustache to take her with him.

At one vital point, the mustached man then said "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

"Bleh.", Rei sneered as she once again changed the channel.

This time, it was a movie in which a woman in her 20s was caught in a corner, screaming in fear as another woman that was dressed in a black trenchcoat, black gloves, black shoes, a black hat and a pure white mask in which one eye is looking out of one eyehole and on the other, a plastic eyeball is attached to the mask for unknown reasons, wielding a handheld portable circular saw. The psycho then ended up slicing up her victim with the circular saw, causing blood to spew everywhere.

"Seen this plenty of times. Own it already", Rei muttered and once again, she changed the channel.

Now a commercial was playing.

"Mannheim Steamroller, live at Nippon Budokan. Friday, January 18th, 2015!"

However, Rei, uninterested, changed the channel yet again.

the music video for the Megadeth song "Sweating Bullets" was playing.

Although she watched it and got into it, it was over before she knew it and started to play a music video of some Japanese pop rock group

"Eh...no thanks", Rei muttered and changed the channel

On this channel was some long haired gas mask wearing dude in a hat, a black trenchcoat, a white business shirt, a black tie and such, talking to a woman with an eyepatch on the same eye Rei's eye is bandaged up.

"Thing is, Michelle. With all the crap you went through, you're still toughing it out", the gas masked guy tells the gal

There's a pause...then Michelle says "Shit happens."

"First Scarred for Life, now Hysterical Violence?!? I rather start from the beginning than at this point. Eh.", Rei muttered and immediately changed the channel

The channel she landed on now is playing a movie where two guys in suits are driving through the streets of LA.

One is a black guy with an afro and the other is a white guy with long hair

"So what do they call a Whopper?", the black guy asks the white guy

"I didn't go into Burger King", the white guy replied

"Eh. Maybe another time", Rei shrugged and again, changed the channel

now, on this channel was a TV show. In this particular moment, a dude in a red jumpsuit and shades with his blonde hair in a pompadour is talking to a circa 1961 Sean Connery lookalike in a tuxedo, drinking a martini.

"You know, son. I have a massive confession to make", the James Bond lookalike told the dude, who apparently is his son

"Yo daddy-o. Better not be something totally bogus.", his son replies in a very stereotypical surfer dude way.

"Its about Rachel. Your fellow agent in the field.", Not-Sean Connery replied

"You're banging here? That would be so lame-o, uncool and grody to the max", Mr. Jump Suit replied

"Well, aside from that....she's...she's a clone of your deceased mother", he sternly replied

"Whoa....that's totally gnarly, dad, but...that means I wanted to do my mother? That's just so illin'!", the other guy replied in a massively comedic fashion.

"Ugh. And I just told Mari that I was so not like that Rachel gal a few days earlier. Just....no.", Rei immediately replied and quickly changed the channel.

"Its been three days since the first angel attack in Tokyo-3", said a reporter on the TV "However, despite it being eliminated by two giant machines of sorts called Evangelions, the residents are feeling the effects of the fight."

"It totally wrecked the buildings! I swear, just a few families and businesses were wrecked by those...beasts", some dude being interviewed by the reporter replies.

However, before Rei could continue watching the news report, Mari stepped into the room and informed her "Well...the Ikaris said I can take you home."

"Oh...so we're leaving now?", Rei asked "Where's the clothes I last wore?"

"In a separate bag I got with me", Mari replied "In fact...until you're fully healed up, i'll be staying with you to help you around the house."

"Gee...thank you. I certainly need the help, since i'm at a disadvantage with having my arm in a cast.", Rei instantly replied

"So...are you ready to go?", Mari asked Rei

"If you got my shoes, then I can leave.", Rei replied

Mari then tossed Rei her loafers and socks, in which she then lifted herself out of the bed and with the help of Mari, got her shoes and socks on. After they did that, they both left.

* * *

About 30-35 minutes later, Rei and Mari got to Rei's apartment room, in which Rei was able to unlock the door. Once they got inside and took their shoes off by the door, Rei told Mari "Okay...can you help me into some real clothes? This damn hospital gown just doesn't feel right"

Mari then helped Rei take off the gown, only to reveal that she had nothing on underneath

"Wow..they went all the way when they stripped me down", Rei remarked "Is my bra and panties in there too?"

"Yeah. They said everything was in there", Mari replied. "So..what is it you want to wear?"

"First thing, I like to actually go without a bra this time. Second, hand me some black sweatpants and my Pungent Stench T-shirt.", Rei informed Mari

"Pun...Pungent Stench? What kind of a boggin name is that?", Mari replied in confusion

"Its a band I like. Heh, I sure got into trouble when I first walked home wearing it with the folks", Rei replied.

Mari then tossed Rei a white panty to Rei, in which she slipped it on with ease. Then came the black sweatpants, which Rei got on easily as well. However, as soon as Mari pulled out the shirt Rei requested to wear, she dropped it in disgust and yelled "What kind of a weirdo are you to wear a shirt in which two arsefaced ass bandits are making out?!?"

Rei, however, then quickly replied "Actually, its two halves of the same head, Mari.", in which she picked up the T-shirt. "Still...you need to help me put it on"

"Okay, okay, i'll help you put on that ghastly shirt", Mari shrugged as she helped Rei put the shirt on.

After Mari assisted Rei on getting the shirt on, Rei then asked Mari "Well...so what do you want to do?"

"Well...I just want to make myself home for the time being", Mari quickly replied

"Then go ahead. You can sleep on my bed and I can sleep on the couch", Rei immediately replied.

However, Mari then told Rei "I can sleep on the couch. It's your apartment room, so you need the bed.", Mari replied with a smile

"Thanks. So...I guess we watch movies then until it gets late.", Mari replied

"Fine with me. How about...say..some Buster Lagann?", Rei asked Mari

"Sure. Some anime wouldn't hurt, though we would have to finish it another day", Mari replied

The two girls then watched about 10 episodes straight of Buster Lagann, but as it got late, they then situated themselves in their own sleeping spaces and went to bed.

* * *

As Rei tried to fall asleep, she muttered to herself "So I guess school is tomorrow. At least I can finally wear my old school uniform...especially with Shinji being there now.". After she said that, she firmly fell asleep, drifting into the next day.


	11. Chapter 10: Cathartic Command

**Chapter 10: Cathartic Command

* * *

**

The next morning had arrived.

Its approx. 5:58 AM.

Rei, completely asleep on the bed, had waken up. Despite the temporary disabilities she has to deal with, which is akin to a war veteran who had returned from the war, expect minus an arm and a eye, though thankfully, for Rei, she still technically has both and aren't rendered useless, they just need to heal up before they can start working again.

Before Rei can get back to doing things the normal way.

Before Rei can pilot Unit 00 again.

Her temporary room mate, Mari Illustrious Makinami, the Fifth Child, on the other hand is still asleep. Despite being the pilot of Evangelion Unit 05, she's often given underground security duties, something while she's fine with, doesn't really suit her interests of doing actual heavy duty.

Recently, the two girls have received yet another fellow pilot, Shinji Ikari.

The son of Yui and Gendo Ikari. While he gets along well with his mother, his feelings towards father, despite caring for him, never gets to communicate with him and with that being persistent for over the course of several years, had grown sour.

However, Shinji's life had been saved several days prior by the combined forces of Rei and Unit 00, despite Rei suffering bad injuries prior to him and the erratically operative Unit 01 coming out in an attempt to finish the work Rei had done on the Third Angel.

In regards to Rei, who had, despite savagely doing so, neutralized the Third Angel with the injuries, is about to return to school, injuries and all.

* * *

Although she had make herself breakfast the best she could with one arm, she still needed Mari to help her get dressed, so she walked towards Mari, who is still sleeping on the couch, leaned down towards her and quickly lunged her slightly chilly fingers onto Mari's warm body, but as soon as she grabbed Mari, she made a silly face and jokingly screamed in a goofy fashion, instantly waking up Mari in fright.

As she woke up, she cocked her head towards Rei, twisted her face into a look of irritation and annoyance and scoffed at Rei, telling her "Why the bloody hell did you do that?"

Rei then exploded into laughter, yoking up and replied "Heh, you need me to help me get ready. That's why you moved in...right?"

Mari's eyes, currently not darting behind any glasses, due to her removing her glasses the night before, widened her eyes, rolled them for a little bit and boomed out "Oh. That's right! We gotta get ready. Thanks for waking me up" and gave Rei a friendly hug that, ironically enough, was a bit too hard of a squeeze for Rei.

"Ugh...Mari. Can you..*gasp* let go?", Rei exhaled as she tried to attempt Mari to let go, in which she immediately did

"Heh. Was I too hard?", Mari smirked while replying in a very cheeky tone

"Yeah. Don't squeeze too hard when you hug next time, kay?", Rei replied, still feeling the effects of Mari's strong grasp.

"Heh, okay.", Mari giggled "Well, we gotta get you ready for school. Everyone's been wondering where you been."

"Good. As you say...we don't want to be running late.", Rei chimed in as she then stood up.

* * *

After Mari woke herself up a bit and got her glasses on, she and Rei gone through Rei's clothes and pulled out both school uniforms.

------

"Its Friday. I finally get wear my old school uniform!", Rei yelled in joy and raised her good arm.

"So that's the uniform you're going to wear today, eh? I don't think it'll fit you as well as..." Mari informed

However, Rei cut her off and barked "No. Don't even start that with me. It's my clothes and I want to wear my old school uniform, kay."

Mari shrugged, edged her shoulders out then sunk them back in and helped Rei clean up and get dressed into her old school uniform. The one she wore back in her old school back in her home town.

* * *

After about nearly an hour of just getting ready (Had Rei not been injured in her first fight, not only it wouldn't take her so long to get ready but Mari wouldn't need to be there and help her around the house), Rei was ready. Despite still having the cast around her healing arm and the bandage around her eye, she's feeling good to be back in her old uniform.

------

"Eh. It looks alright, but the school uniform all the other girls wear suits you so much more.", Mari replied in a deadpan tone.

Rei gave Mari a fairly unamused glare and asked her "Are you ready, then? We gotta go."

Mari then grinned, struck a pose and joyfully replied "Gimme one second and we can go"

Rei simply nodded and Mari suddenly grabbed her uniform, ran into the bathroom and can back out a mere 45 seconds later.

"Gee...that was fast", Rei bemusedly replied with her eyes opened wide in disbelief.

"Well...lets get a move on, then", Mari groaned as she lightly shoved Rei.

Rei simply nodded. Both girls grabbed their belongings, put their shoes on and left.

* * *

About 30 minutes of walking, Rei and Mari finally made it to their class. Despite being about 1 minute late, they managed to get in. However, everyone was stunned to see Rei with her cast and the bandage around her eye.

------

"My goodness. What happened to you? You look like an absolute wreck!", the normally apathetic class rep Hikari concernedly asked

"I...had a bad accident", Rei calmly replied

"No wonder why you haven't been here in the last few days. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Here...take this", Hikari replied in a soft, caring tone. Something Rei never heard and much of her fellow classmates rarely heard altogether.

She then gave Rei a bag and then sat back down. "Well...thanks", Rei replied in a quiet tone as she sat down on her seat.

* * *

As she sat down, Rei then looked around the room and spotted Shinji sitting in another chair. As she stared at him, she grinned as it was indeed true that he's one of her classmates.

------

"Okay...you all need to take your laptops out now. Today's lesson will be done via your laptops", the teacher informed them all.

However, Rei didn't have a laptop around her, yet Hikari, who was standing by her, informed her "Here, Ayanami. This is your laptop. Its intended for school only, so don't take it home, okay."

Rei simply took the laptop and calmly replied "Thanks.", in which after she received it, Hikari returned to her seat.

With only being able to use one hand, Rei attempted to use her laptop, only to realize the sheer difficulty of doing things with one hand. Far more so than earlier.

* * *

As time passed by in class, Rei's attention drifted from class to...other things as everyone else in the class was using their laptops.

* * *

Shinji Ikari, the Third Child, is simply doing his own thing on the laptop, in which he then receives a surprising message.

------

"So...you're new here?", the message asks

He then types in "Yes." and sends it.

Another message pops up, asking "What do you do on your spare time?"

He replies "I am the pilot of an Evangelion" and sends it...only for this message to cause quite a commotion.

With the exception of Hikari, Rei and Mari, all of the girls in class stand out of their set and ask a vast variety of questions, some even Shinji didn't even catch.

Much of this persists, only for the class bell to ring in which all of the students then exit the room, only to bombard Shinji with even more questions than before.

As Rei put her laptop away, Mari informs her "Let's get out of here as quickly and calmly as possible before the shit really hits the fan" and they both get up and leave.

However, Rei stops and asks "What about Shinji? Let's get him to come with us. I like to talk about some more things with him."

Mari, however, replies "He can take care of himself", in which she grabs Rei by her good hand and darts, forcing Rei to keep herself on track of following along.

Although they got out of class and school smoothly, things didn't really sail well for their coworker Shinji.

* * *

A loud grunt and the sound of a fist contacting a face was heard.

Toji had punched Shinji over the fact that his sister was injured during the fight with the Third Angel back on Monday.

------

"Wh....Why did you do that?", Shinji panicked

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just pissed that your giant robot messed up his sister...even though word is that she claims that the big orange thing saved her life", Kensuke innocently informed Shinji

However, Shinji quickly yelped out "That was Ayanami, not me!"

Toji then turned his head and replied in confusion "Aya....Ayanami was in that thingamajig?"

"Uhh....uhh yes.", Shinji immediately responded with a nervous croak

Toji's face then twisted from being all angry to being very...ashamed of himself

"The girl that saved my sis' life...risked herself out there and is now in a cast and such. Such a toughie, though", Toji exhaled with a slight sound of sorrow in his voice, simply because not only he attacked the wrong person, but also his anger was, in fact, meant for a girl. A girl who had went through hell to stop the angel and that Toji completely refuses to attack a girl.

And speak of the devil, Rei herself walked into view, saw Shinji, ran towards him and whimpered out "Wha...what happened to you?"

"Ugh...ugh...I was just...rough housing with Toji there", Shinji fibbed.

Rei then spotted Toji, who nervously scratched his back and chuckled "Heh, yeah. Me and Shinji were just...playing around. Sure, we were a little rough, but other than that, it was all good, clean fun"

Kensuke and Shinji all nodded in response, even phoning in smiles that masked the sheer nervousness they had by lying to the girl who's still recovering from her injuries

Rei then cocks her head and tells Shinji "Anyways, your folks called. They need you back at HQ. Another angel is on its way."

Surprised and taken a bit aback by this news, Shinji cries out "But can't Mari take on the angel? I don't think I can stop it"

Rei then calmly grabs Shinji by the shirt and tells him "You can do it. I know you can. Do it for me, okay?"

Shinji, who then blushes a little, replies "Okay, Ayanami. I'll do it. Let's go", in which the two kids then run away while Toji and Kensuke wave at them.

* * *

After Rei and Shinji leave, Toji tells Kensuke "You know what? I can sense something...brewing between Rei and the new kid."

"Well, yeah. Now if I could just get something going with Mari...", Kensuke replied

However, Toji cuts in and replies back "But why won't you take the effort to ask her out?"

Blushing, Kensuke replies in an embarrassed tone "But...i'm too scared to ask her. I don't want her to reject me."

Toji then puts his hand on one of Kensuke's shoulders and tells him "Buddy...I told you this before. If you don't ask, you'll never know if she likes you or not. In fact..i'll tell you this...as bitchy as she is...I like the class rep. She's cute."

Kensuke's eyes widen and confusingly yells out "WHAT?!?"

* * *

Elsewhere in Tokyo-3, a phallic, crab like being is floating its way through the city, heading towards Nerv HQ. This thing is Shamshel. The Forth Angel. The first angel Shinji Ikari and Unit 01 will properly engage combat with.

* * *

Back at Nerv HQ, Shinji is now inside Unit 01, plug suit and all.

------

"Are you doing fine, my child?" Yui asks him

"Yes.", Shinji calmly and quietly responds

Misato then walks into view as Unit 01 is then shot into the surface. After Unit 01 pops out of the ground, she orders 'Unit 01. Move out!!", in which Shinji commands it to do so.

* * *

Inside the command center, it is revealed that Rei is present in there, watching alongside with Yui, Ritsuko and Misato. Mari, on the other hand, is once again back underground, just in case the angel decides to go under than above.

Ritsuko turns her head, sees Rei and asks her "What are you doing here? You don't have authorization to be around here. Leave this area immediately!"

However, Yui cuts Ritsuko off and adds in "Oh, don't worry. Rei's okay. She can watch and see if my son does well."

Misato, being on the same page as Mrs. Ikari, replies "Yeah. Stay here and watch over Shinji with us, Rei. A little extra company doesn't hurt"

"Thanks, Ms. Katsuragi and Mrs. Ikari. Just a little concerned about Shinji. I hope he does alright", Rei replies in a worried yet calm tone

"He'll be fine. With the training he received, he shall do well now", Yui replied in a positive tone. However, she then whispered "Only if Unit 01 works like it should, since it doesn't have...what it needs to actually do any shit"

"Yeah...Shinji will be alright. Trust us", Misato added in with ever more enthusiasm than Yui did.

* * *

Around the forest area near the streets of Tokyo-3, Toji and Kensuke are looking at the streets.

------

"I've been waiting to see this! A real battle between two titans!", Kensuke screamed in absolute joy

"Gee...I hope this was the right idea.", Toji mutters in a less positive tone.

"Oh come on, Toji. This is going to be great!", Kensuke boasts.

As they watch, Unit 01 gets close to the angel and attempts to fight it, only for it to miss and get whipped by the angel's electro-phaser whips, unplugging it from its power source and sending it flying near towards Kensuke and Toji.

However, by sheer luck, it manages to land where Toji and Kensuke are in between its legs.

Unit 01 then scans the two frightened boys, in which their personal info are then displayed on the screens of the command center back at Nerv HQ

"Those are our classmates!", Rei yells in surprise

"What the hell are they doing out there?!?", Ritsuko barks

Yui then orders Shinji "Put them into the plug, then resume combat with the angel"

Misato then replies in a defiant "But...but he can't. Make him evacuate immediately"

Yui moans "Ugh. Alright. Its your call...but if he refuses, its fine with me."

Interestingly enough, Misato ignores what Mrs. Ikari said and orders Shinji "Get your classmates into the plug and get the hell out of there"

Shinji then gets Toji and Kensuke into the plug. However, after they enter, Maya then yells "Unit 01's synch rate is going down"

"That's because he left foreign bodies into the plug!!", Ritsuko barks in irritation

"Get the hell out of there now!!", Misato growls at Shinji.

However, he then chants to himself "I musn't run away. I musn't run away.", makes Unit 01 extract its Progressive Knife, make it wield in and screams out "I Musn't Run Away!!", as he charges at the angel. He then stabs it at its core, despite the timer of Unit 01's activation running thin

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....Unit 01's power is down...the target...has been neutralized", Maya informs everyone

"That's my boy.", Yui remarks to herself in satisfaction

"That stupid...stupid boy...disobeyed my orders!", Misato booms out in sheer anger

"Come on, now. Didn't I say that would happen? After all, Ms. Katsuragi, he's my son", Yui informed Misato in a satisfied tone

However, Misato stomps away and says "Still...he disobeyed my goddamn orders!! That bastard of a child!!" and mumbles as she walks away.

Rei then says "You...you did it, Shinji. You did it" as she smiles as she's relieved in her worries of Shinji possibly suffering the same fate she did never came to be.

Unit 01 had eliminated the angel and yet, the angel received no other damage at all, making it a perfect candidate for examination. Both the angel's corpse and Unit 01 stand there, quietly, in the night.

* * *

Rei, sitting in the break room, is reading a film magazine. Despite it mostly being about local films, she's reading articles regarding international films. Films made in different countries that suit her interests.

However, she then feels someone sitting next to her and the voice of said person asks Rei "Hey. Mind if we..ahem...introduce each other?"

Rei then looks up and sees a short haired woman in the standard issue female Nerv uniform. Its none other than Maya Ibuki that has decided to want to talk to Rei at this very moment

"Ummm...sure", Rei responds, not really sure why Maya, of all people, want to talk to her.

They then shake hands, in which while Rei reaches out one hand, Maya puts out both and shakes 'em both while holding Rei's good hand. The one that isn't in a cast along with its arm.

As Maya shakes Rei's hand, Rei suddenly feels a massive temperature difference between Maya's hands. While her left hand feels normal, something feels...extremely icy and cold about her right hand. It feels...odd.

"Why is your right hand so cold?", Rei confusingly asks Maya

"Rei...the thing is that it's been like that since birth. My folks told me that my right hand doesn't really get that good of a flow of my body temperature. In fact, it always stays cold and numb all the time. In fact, i'm surprised I haven't gotten frostbite on it all these years." Maya informed Rei with sheer honesty.

However, Maya realizes that she has to leave and informs Rei "Well...I gotta go. Nice meeting you, though."

"Same here", Rei replies.

As she walks away, Maya informs "Trust me, Rei. We'll be talking to each other again...a lot", and disappears.

* * *

Despite being confused by what just happened, Rei attempts to resume reading her magazine, only for Mari to pop up and ask her "So...you're ready to go back home?"

"Yeah. Let's go", Rei replies and the two girls start to walk.

* * *

As they walk, Mari asks Rei "So...how did Shinji do?"

Rei responds "He did good, despite ignoring Misato's demands, but his mom was sure as hell satisfied. Just glad he didn't get hurt, though"

"That's good, but what the hell was up with that Maya? What did she ask you?", Mari asked Rei in a minorly concerned tone.

"Well...not that much. Even though her right hand felt unusually cold, she was nice. A little weird, but nice", Rei replied in which she and Mari then resumed their focus on leaving Nerv HQ and returning to that apartment room.

Despite what she told Mari, Rei, in her honestly, felt something...strange about Maya.

Something...uncomfortable to the point it confused her beyond comprehension.


	12. Chapter 11: The Passion of the Hedgehog

**Chapter 11: The Passion of the Hedgehog

* * *

**

Misato's Apartment.

In comparison to Rei's, its a holocaust of a mess.

Boxes, beer cans and such. You know...the works.

However, just the other day, Shinji had disobeyed her orders to pull out of the fight.

While the Ikaris were pleased that he had eliminated the angel in a clean, tidy matter, Misato was displeased.

She had asked why his disobeyed his orders and yet, taking a cue from his father, he acted like a snarky smartass, which deeply turned her off.

However, since that night, Shinji did something she's not aware of.

------

"Shinji? Shinji? Are you up?", Misato asked him behind his door.

She paused for a second.

She then decided to knock it, in which she learned that it was unlocked as it lightly swung open to reveal an empty room.

Silence. Pure silence had filled the room, yet Misato could only muster one word that summed everything up at this moment.

"He ran away."

* * *

_Back at Rei's apartment...

* * *

_

Since Rei's brief encounter with Lt. Maya Ibuki, she has done a bit alright, despite some minor suspicions on Maya's so-called "disease"

However, since she had no clue at all what that kind of a disease would be called, she simply brushed it off and resumed her own little dilemmas.

Mainly her still-healing injuries.

Inside the bathroom of her apartment room, Rei snags her boombox, walks into the bathroom and sets it down. She then walks out of the bathroom, grabs her copy of Front 242's "Geography", walks back into the bathroom, sets it down next to her boombox, shuts the bathroom door and locks it.

As the song "Operating Tracks" booms its cold, chilly and claustrophobic, futuristic nature through the bathroom, Rei removes the bandage from her eye, revealing that her eye is still sensitive to light, as well as that the surrounding area around her eye is woven in scabs. Thankfully, no scar tissue and massive scarring is present, but still, she had to immediately put the bandage back on to not risk going blind in that eye permanently.

After administering some more tape and such to keep the bandage in place, she then moves onto her arm. She slowly attempts to remove the cast, proving to be successful.

However, she was greeting with a sight that, while a massive improvement from when it was first injured, is still quite ghastly to look at.

Her right arm is now a roadway of scabs, some minor wounds, bruises and other assorted hideousness. Thankfully, like with her eye, no scar tissue, massive scarring and gangrene is present. She'll be able to keep the arm and continue to use it.

Now, with that out of the way, she then attempts to move her fingers and such, yet as soon as she does so, a large surge of pain hits her like a freight train, causing her to scream and whimper in a such a volume, it even breaks through the Belgian music group's mechanical music, causing Mari to rush to the bathroom to see what Rei did to herself, yet since Rei locked the door, Mari begins to bang on the door, screaming out "REI!?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT IN THERE!?! PLEASE, LET ME IN!!"

Rei, while putting the cast back on and restraining the sling around her, turns off the boombox and nervously replies "Uhhh...i'm okay, I just...uhhh...uhhh...slipped. I'm okay."

After fixing the cast and sling back to their original position and setup, Rei unlocks the door, in which Mari bursts in and sees Rei simply standing there.

"Oh boy, Rei. You sure made me worried there. So...what did you slip on?", Mari asked Rei, in a tone that while still sounding worried, is far more calmed down and relaxed than before.

"Actually, I didn't slip. I looked at my wounds", Rei confessed, sounding guilty. "I...I just had to see how they looked."

"Oh Rei. Just by this rate, you'll be back to your regular self in no time!", Mari smirked in positive, earnest tone while giving Rei a thumbs up and winked.

"Well...thanks. Shall we...ahem..watch some TV, then?", Rei asked Mari in a friendly tone

"Absolutely! I like to pop on and watch the telly for a little bit", Mari exclaimed. She then put one of her arms around Rei's shoulders and the two girls then walked back into the living room to watch some TV.

* * *

40 minutes have passed and Misato has pulled up at a few blocks by where Dr. Ritsuko Akagi lives. The two had been friends in college and such, yet despite with her knowing of Ritsuko's rocky life (As well as that her own life had been rocky) and differentiating opinions, the two remained friends, so its logical for her to pop up and give Ritsuko the news of Shinji running away.

As she walked towards Ritsuko's house, she passes by a house in which someone is peaking out of the curtains of the window, but as she looks at the window, the person vanishes from behind the curtains and fully puts them together, making looking through the window and getting a glimpse of the contents of the house impossible.

Although she considers to look in further to the house, but she shrugs it off, muttering to herself "Oh its nothing. It'll be rude to barge in without asking. I got more important matters to deal with anyways.", and continues to walk towards Ritsuko's house.

* * *

"In international news, in the state of Portland, Oregon in the United States, notorious serial killer Laurie "The Death Angel" Strode was found and apprehended in small little cottage in the country side. Born Angel Myers, Laurie, the sister of the equally infamous and long deceased Michael Myers, had been apparently killing various folks all across the United States since 1998. Even after the Second Impact, Laurie managed to find a way to take advantage of the crisis and kill. She'll be put to trial in about 5 months.", a reported informed the viewers

"Gee, I had no clue that nutter bitch actually existed! I thought she was just some fictional barmy along with her dim brother that only existed in the pickies." Mari proclaimed in surprise

"Wait...you've seen those films? Why not we watch one of them tonight?", Rei yelled in sheer excitement

"Which one? The first one or the second one?", Mari sternly asked

Rei, feeling embarrassed to admit it, nervously replied "The...the...the second one." and put on a massive, nervous smile on her face

"What a load of bollocks!!", Mari barked out in irritation. "Fine...since its your place...we'll watch it. By the way..which version?"

"Theatrical", Rei immediately replied with a smirk.

* * *

Inside Ritsuko's house, she's serving Misato and herself some tea.

"Care for some tea, Misa?", Ritsuko asks in a calm, unusually friendly fashion, despite having what must have been her 7th cigarette of the day in her mouth.

"Sure. It wouldn't hurt", Misato chimes in as she accepts the teacup and takes it.

"So....he ran away? Heh.", Ritsuko mutters in a fairly unamused matter

"Yeah...and just after he flat out ignored my command.", Misato grumbled "Still...why he did that just boggles my mind"

After she said that, Ritsuko set her cigarette aside, took a swig of coffee, put the cigarette back in her mouth, raised her hand in which her index finger and thumb were sticking out and said "Wait. Have, you...by any chance heard the tale of the Hedgehog's Dilemma?"

"Ummmm...what did you say?", Misato replied, sounding confused

"You know...the fable known as The Hedgehog's Dilemma. You ever heard of it?", Ritsuko repeated herself

"Hedgehog? You mean like Sonic the Hedgehog?", Misato suddenly replied with an increase of volume in her voice

"No. It has nothing to do with Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm talking about the actual animal", Ritsuko informed, with her voice suddenly becoming a bit more stern than it was before.

"Dammit", Misato griped to herself while thrusting her fist down. She then replied "Seriously, I never heard of the fable. Go ahead in feed my head, Rits. Go ahead".

"Even though a hedgehog would want to be close with another hedgehog, the closer they get to each other, their spines ultimately injury each other.", Ritsuko informed

"Heh. Unless you got yourself a couple of masochistic hedgehogs that love the pain. You know..pain and pleasure", Misato remarked in a cheeky tone that made Ritsuko groan in her dumbfound reaction of what Misato said

"Anyways, It's the same with some humans. He probably ran because he couldn't handle being hurt by the feelings of others, especially since he lives with you. Mrs. Ikari told me that he was always...the sensitive type.", Ritsuko informed

"Well...I guess he'll learn to cope with it as he gets older....that's if we find him and bring him back", Misato replied.

* * *

"Shifting gears from serial killers to rock bands, Halford is out and Atkins is in! Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford has once again left Judas Priest, but in a strange, surprising turn of events, founder and original frontman Al Atkins has reunited with the band. An official statement has been..." the new reporter muttered

However, Mari then added in "Oh those geezards. Still like to rock out even with those hip surgeries and such", sounding unsurprised and uninterested.

"Oh come on, Mari. I like the Priest, so this is quite an interesting development", Rei chimed in

"Oh, whatever", Mari shrugged in response and walked off into the kitchen to make herself some food.

* * *

Back at Ritsuko's home, she then tells Misato "Well, why not you go and ask Rei and Mari if by any chance they ran into him?"

"EXACTLY! Maybe Shinji decided to tell Rei goodbye. Alright, Rits. I'm out of here. I'll meet you at HQ after I found him", Misato exclaims, gives Ritsuko a friendly hand gesture and walks out of the house.

"Well...if Shinji's gone....then I guess Rei will have to fight again, regardless of her injuries", Ritsuko sighs.

* * *

In the streets, Misato darts towards her car, gets into it and drives.

As she's driving, she pulls out a paper containing the directions to Rei's apartment, follows them and takes about 10 minutes to find the apartment complex. She then gets out of her car, runs up the stairs of the complex, reaches Rei's apartment room and starts knocking on its door.

* * *

"Huh? I wonder who that could be?", Mari mutters as she fixes herself some breakfast as she hears the door knocking.

"I have no clue, but just by how much pounding there is, it has to be important", Rei replies.

Since she's the closest to the door, Rei gets up and opens it, only to be greeted by, of all things, a panicked and worried Misato

"Uhhh...hi Misato. Ummm, what's wrong?", Rei asked, being confused

"Have you seen Shinji around today?", Misato asked, sounding very nerved up

"Uhhh...no. What did he do?", Rei calmly asked

"He....he ran away. He's been gone since the morning", Misato confessed, looking a bit glum

"WHAT!?! WE GOTTA FIND HIM!!", Rei yelled, showing her concern over Shinji

"I'm afraid...that...he doesn't want to pilot anymore", Misato once again confessed, showing signs of despair. She then whispered "And this is after I went out all my way to make him feel at home"

"Does...does his mother know that he's gone?", Rei asked Misato as she pondered the thought

"Yes. In informed her that. While she sounded disappointed, she gave me the order to get him back to HQ. His father, on the other hand....", Misato replied, then began to space out when she remembered Commander Ikari's words.

"Wha...what is it?", Rei asked, sounding extremely concerned

"He...he said that if Shinji wanted to leave, then so be it", Misato replied

"Crap! We gotta get Shinji back to HQ!", Rei yelled.

Mari then walked into the living room and remarked "What? Shinji ran away?"

Rei then walked up to Mari, grabbed her arm and said "Get ready, we're going to hunt him down and bring him back to HQ!"

"Are you sure, Rei? After all, you're still recovering from your wounds...", Mari replied in bemusement

However, Rei cut her off and said "So what! We gotta get Shinji back pronto!", Rei yelled

"Okay, okay. Lemme get ready, then.", Mari replied.

Mari then grabbed some clothes, ran into the bathroom, got dressed, ran out of the bathroom, put her glasses on and such. Meanwhile, Rei grabbed a few CDs, put her shoes and all three then got into Misato's car and drove off.

* * *

As Misato drove through the streets, Rei then muttered "Ummmm Misato? Can you please change the station? I'm not too fond of this pop crap"

"What? How could you not love this stuff?!?", Misato replied, confused about Rei suddenly dissing music that, while locally beloved, is called J-Pop internationally

"Yeah, so please, change the channel. That'll do", Rei snapped

"Okay, okay, Ayanami. I'll change the channel", Misato muttered in a fairly surprised, yet mildly irritated matter

Misato then flipped the channel to a rap station, in which Rei immediately yelled "GAH!!! CHANGE IT!!"

Misato then flipped it to a classical station, playing the J.S. Bach piece "Air". Rei then muttered "BORING", in which Misato quickly flipped it to a rock station playing some Bon Jovi

"NEXT!" Rei commanded. Misato then landed on a heavy metal station that was unfortunately playing some Disturbed.

"EW! In fact, screw the radio. Just put this in!", Rei barked as she handed Misato a CD. The cover was fairly abstract in which while she had no clue what it was, she then muttered "Oh whatever", in which she put it in.

The music that seeped in sounded in like it was playing in reverse

"The hell is this shite?", Mari asked Rei in confusion

and then...BAM!! Immortal Rites had officially invaded the car speakers, causing both Misato and Mari to be stunned by the musical insanity that Rei made Misato put in

Suddenly, Misato abruptly stopped the car, turned off the music and turn her head to look at Rei.

"To be honest, up until now, I hadn't realized this. Are you even sure you are Japanese?", Misato questioned Rei.

"Ummm...ummm yeah. Here's a photo of ma and pop in case you want to see", Rei replied, handing Misato a photo of herself and her parents.

Misato examined the photo, pondered to herself, then replied "You know, Ayanami? This is weird. You sure don't look Japanese at all. You look...very Caucasian. Are you sure they're even your parents?"

"Yeah. Over the years they told me why I look like the way I do is because pop worked in a nuclear plant and that why I look like this is because of side effects.", Rei confessed

Misato thought for a while...then positively replied "Okay. No need to go in anymore depth. Just asked", in which she smirked and winked

Rei then turned her head and asked Misato "So...where shall we start?"

"Start where?", Misato asked

"Start finding Shinji", Rei informed.


	13. Chapter 12: The Search for Shinji

**Chapter 12: The Search for Shinji

* * *

**

"So we got about...I dunno, a shitload of places to look and yet so little time", Rei muttered in annoyance, due to the fact that she, Misato and Mari had a lot of places to stop by in hopes of finding Shinji.

"Okay, Ayanami. Why do you cuss so much?", Misato asked

"Well...", Rei responded in a half "are you shitting me?" tone and a half embarrassed tone while rolling her eyes, trying to muster a passable response.

However...rather than replying, she remained silent, causing the car to be filled with a fairly uncomfortable moment of silence that lasted at least 30 seconds. Misato ultimately broke the silence by saying "Oh what the hell. We got more important matters to deal with", and then started driving again.

As Misato drove, she, Rei and Mari all discussed what their first stop will be

"Well...if I thought like Shinji..where would he first most likely stop at?", Mari pondered

"Beats me. I don't want his ass to get kicked out of here. He's way too nice to be give an early pass. Hell, his mother was satisfied by getting the job done that day, so why did he decide to leave?", Rei conversed and pondered.

"Uhhhh...ehhhh...it's my fault.", Misato confessed "I...I should have been easier on him and let it go."

"WHAT?!?", Rei yelled as she cocked her head towards Misato "YOU?!?"

"Yes. He...disobeyed my orders...but...I went against Yui's wishes. I just bitched at him out of sheer ego. I'm...i'm sorry.", Misato glumly murmured as she, once again slowed the car down.

"Well...I hope Commander Ikari doesn't force his ass out, so we need to actually get a move on it", Rei yelled in frustration. "So back to square one. What would be the first place Shinji would stop at?"

Everyone thought for a second, but then it donned on Misato.

"THE RECORD SHOP!!!", Mistao yelled in both satisfaction and remembrance "He must have went to the record shop"

"There's a record shop around here?", Rei asked, being surprised by this news "I didn't know there's a record shop here"

"Well...you'll get to walk into it for the first time, then", Mari added. "Its a nice little place, though I got no idea if they stock the stuff you like."

"We don't have much time to look around", Misato informed the two girls in a dead serious tone. "All we have to do is find Shinji and nothing else"

Rei, who was all game to check out what CDs the record shop had, was suddenly sent into a massive bummer mood and sighed. Mari then patted her on the back and told her "There's always next time."

Rei then shifted from being sad to back into her tone of needing answers, looked at Misato and asked her "So...why would Shinji go into a record shop anyways? I didn't see him carrying around a CD player so...what would he look for in there anyways?"

"He has a portable cassette player. You know...like a walkman", Misato informed the two girls.

"Oh, I know what you're talking about! Those thingamajigs are ancient!", Mari added in after hearing Misato's reply. Ironically, Rei, while having a slight passing knowledge of cassettes, was a bit in the dark.

"So...are we there yet?", Rei pestered

"Well...yeah. Just look outside.", Misato responded while pointing outside "Now come get a move on it!"

Rei then opened the car door the closest by her and stepped out. She then took a good look at the front of the store just so she could memorize what it looks like, told herself "I got to come back another day and look around to see what they got in stock", then started to make her way to the door.

* * *

Inside the record shop, Aoba had two vinyl records in his hand. The first was the Overkill EP "!!!Fuck You!!!", which Aoba was muttering "Yes. Such a rarity", while rubbing his hand through the album jacket. The other was Sarcófago's "INRI".

As he gazed on the vinyl records, he caught a glimpse of Rei behind him, due to a mirror being nearby the vinyl rack. He then turned around and asked Rei "Hey. So you're here to find some music like me, eh?"

"No, Aoba. Me, Mari and Misato are looking for Shinji. Have you seen him anywhere or even in here?", Rei asked Aoba.

"No, i'm afraid not. In fact, he hasn't even popped up in here during the past 20 minutes or so i've been in here.", Aoba confirmed "So...why is it you're looking for him?"

"He ran away and its up to us to get his ass back to Nerv before he's kicked out of Tokyo 3", Mari added in while popping up behind Rei

"Heh. So he ran away. I wonder why", Aoba muttered while rolling his eyes as Misato came into focus "So I guess you need me to tag along, right?"

"Yeah. Do you mind if you help us out?", Rei asked

Aoba thought for a second, then responded "Oh what the hell. Sure. Me and my bandmates arent' scheduled for another rehearsal until next week, you, Rei, are still too injured to get lessons from me and we're all not required to be at HQ, so yeah, but first...I need to pay for these records"

"Well...why not you ask the cashier if he saw Shinji pop in while you're at it?", Rei asked Aoba

"Yeah.", he replied while nodding as he walked towards the cash register with the vinyls in hand.

"So this is all, eh?", the cash register asked Aoba, wondering if he might end up finding something else and adding it to his collection.

"Nah. Maybe another day.", Aoba replied "Well...by any chance, did you see a kid wearing a white polo shirt and black jeans pop in here today?"

"Nope. If I did, you would've heard it from me.", the cashier confirmed.

Aoba then handed the records and the cashier rang them up.

"Well, the good news is that this Sarcófago album is about $25.", The cashier inquired

"Not bad. So what's the bad news?", Aoba asked

"The Overkill EP is about $150", The cashier replied in a very deadpan matter

"150 DOLLARS!?! Damn. Well, its rare, but an opportunity is always a good one to take", Aoba responded and handed the cashier $180.00, as well as telling the cashier to "Keep the cash"

After he dealt with that, he then followed Misato and the girls to the car. He then sat onto the front passenger seat while Rei and Mari sat in the back seats like before.

* * *

With everyone inside the car, Misato then pondered "Since he's not here...I wonder where else he could be?"

Like before, the car was silent, but then Rei yelled in remembrance "What about the dynamic duo? Maybe they have ran into Shinji."

"What do you mean 'The Dynamic Duo'?", Mari asked, not really thinking in the moment

"You know. Toji and....", Rei responded. Then, before she finished her sentence, she leaned in towards Mari, stroked her left index and middle finger through Mari's shoulder and grinned "...Your little love interest", all while talking in a overexaggerated husky, seductive and cheeky tone.

Mari's cheeks turned red in embarrassment, sank into her chair and did not respond. However, Misato then asked "So where would these two would be?"

"I guess by the shopping center around the novelty shop, since i've seen Kensuke playing with some model VTOLS and such. There's also that he has a camcorder, but I hardly doubt Shinji would have any interest in the fields of film, but you never know", Rei replied

"So...the shopping center, then?", Misato asked, seeing if this location would be their confirmed next stop.

"Yup. Lets go", Rei inquired.

"I don't mind cruising through the shopping center". Aoba chimed in.

"Sorry, but finding Shinji is our main priority, so maybe another day", Misato shot back

"Oh well. I don't really give a damn anyways. Another day is just fine with me.", Aoba replied.

* * *

About 15 minutes later, the car then pulled up by a shopping center. The two girls, the woman and the man then all got out and stood by each other

"So...should we split up?", Aoba asked

"Well...me and Mari can look at the novelty shop while you and Misato check out any other place around here", Rei informed and suggested

"Sounds good with me", Mari replied

"Yeah. It'll certainly make things easier if we split up like that.", Misato responded. She then grabbed Aoba's arm, told him "Okay Mr. Metal, you're coming with me", and dragged him along, which caused Rei and Mari to quietly chuckle.

After Misato and Aoba walked out of focus, Rei then tapped Mari on the shoulder and told her "Now let's go find bonehead and your boyfriend". However, after Rei muttered the word "Boyfriend", Mari scoffed and lightly smacked Rei on the arm as they walked off.

* * *

Inside the novelty shop, which contained a vast variety of model kits, such as cars, various military vehicles and even some movie/television/comic book/video game characters.

------

"Weeeaaaaammmm. Pch! Pch! Katakatakatakatakatakata. Keblang!", Kensuke gibbered as he made various noises, pretending that the figures he's playing with are really working.

"Oh come on, Kensuke. Why do you have to do this every single place you're at?", Toji remarked, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Heh. Then again, you often risk the both of us getting our asses kicked all the time", Kensuke shot back.

"Whatever", Toji replied in an annoyed tone.

"Hey! You two!", Rei yelled at both Toji and Kensuke, in which they turned around. However, Mari then popped down, hiding herself behind Rei

"Hey Rei. Ummm, what are you doing around these parts?", Toji asked Rei.

Kensuke tried to muster a respond, but after Toji lightly nugged him by the side, he then yelped out "Is there a chance that Mari is around too?"

As soon as he said that, Mari, as she hid behind Rei, yelped "Oh bollocks. Can you help me out?"

However, being a bit of a hardass, Rei then took a sidestep to the left that immediately revealed Mari crouching down. As she saw that Rei is not standing in front of her, she yelped in shock as she caught a glimpse of Kensuke standing a few inches from her.

"Hi Mari", Kensuke awkwardly yet calmly told Mari.

"Ehhh....Hi Kensuke", Mari replied as she slowly stood up and waved at him, being very nervous that the both of them are even talking to each other.

Rei then asked the two boys "So....have you two ran into Shinji by any chance today?"

Toji then walked up and blurted out "Funny thing is that we were hoping that you two managed to run into him today, because we have not seen him ANYWHERE today at all. In fact, we're getting a little worried that he's AWOL"

Rei then thrusted her good fist, stamped on the floor and barked out "Dammit! I was hoping you two had seen him somewhere"

"So wait...you two are looking for Shinji? Why is that?", Kensuke chimed in

"Well. Me, Mari and two adults that are with us need to find Shinji and get him back to HQ so he doesn't get his ass kicked out of here and back to where he came from", Rei sternly informed both boys.

However, Misato and Aoba suddenly stepped into the store, with Misato asking Rei "So they've seen Shinji around?"

"No, ma'am", Toji informed.

Misato then told Rei and Mari "Let's go", in which she, Aoba, Rei and Mari started to walk out of the store.

However, Toji and Kensuke decided to follow and ask them "Hey! Can we tag along"

Misato then stopped, looked at the two boys, then said "Alright. Though you two have to squeeze in the back"

* * *

Inside the car, we see Rei, Mari, Toji and Kensuke all squeezed in the back, trying to situate each other

"Boy. This is what I call a tight squeeze", Kensuke chuckled

"Shup up", Toji shot back

"Both of you shut up", Misato barked

"Oh come on. Boys will be boys", Aoba slyly muttered back

"We gotta find Shinji, not bitch about stupid stuff", Rei complained

However, Mari, as she looked out the window, with the day now being night, spotted someone sitting by the edge of a canal. However, as the car got closer, she then realized that it was, in fact, Shinji.

"Hey Look! I found Shinji!!! Pull over!!!", Mari yelled at Misato

Misato then peaked out of her car window, spotted Shinji and pulled the car over.

Everyone then got out of the car and ran towards Shinji, only to be suddenly blinded by a large spotlight, in which several men in black of various nationalities popped through the spotlight and walked up towards Shinji.

"Mr. Ikari. You've ran away and we're ordered to escort you out of Tokyo 3", this one Caucasian agent with a receding hairline told Shinji in a slightly serious, yet slightly hammy matter

"No, Smith. I'm taking Shinji back to HQ", Misato told Smith

"Yo, you me mean me Ms. Katsuragi?", an agent with an African heritage then asked Misato in a cocky matter

"Not you, Will. I'm talking to Smith without a first name", Misato informed Will

"Well then, Misa. But I still make this look good", Will informed Misato in a cheeky matter as he walked away.

Misato then walked up to Smith, yet Smith then informed Misato "Me and my boys got orders to take Shinji out of here...even though Dr. Ikari had disapproved of our orders"

"Well...if Dr. Ikari says something like that, then you better take it granted", Misato replied back. She then grabbed Shinji by his collar, dragged him and told him "We're going back to HQ, Shinji"

All Shinji could muster was a light, calm "Alright" as he was then shoved into the car.

However, Misato then told Toji and Kensuke "Well, you two better get home now. The rest of us got...matters to settle at HQ"

"Yes, ma'am.", the two boys then replied and bowed. They waved at Shinji and told him "See you tomorrow, Ikari", and walked off.

After they were gone, Misato then started the car up and started to drive towards Nerv HQ.

* * *

Back at HQ, Rei and Mari sat in the lobby, wondering what Shinji's fate is going to be. However, Shinji then walked out of the door, in which Rei then erected out of her chair, walked towards Shinji and asked him "So..what's going to happened?"

"I'm staying. I must keep piloting...for mother", Shinji replied "And...just to see you"

Rei's unsure frown suddenly shifted to being a relieved smile and hugged Shinji.

For about a minute, the two hugged each other. Shinji then asked Rei "So...when are you going to be able to pilot again?"

"In about a month", Rei responded "So...want to come by tonight?"

"Ummmm..i'm afraid not. Maybe another day.", Shinji replied.

"Well...okay, then. Goodnight!", Rei replied as she stood up and made her way out. Mari then followed suit.

"So...Shinji's not coming by tonight?", Mari asked

"I guess...I guess he's still a bit shaken up by what happened", Rei replied "But there's always next time"

"Yup", Mari responded.

Both girls then continued to walk back to the apartment room.

* * *

Deep in the darkest depths of Nerv HQ, a dark, cold room is shown.

Inside it, the bones of what appear to be what's left of the Third Angel Sachiel and the Forth Angel Shamshel. In the foreground is what appears to be some kind of black mechanical giant which resembles an Evangelion that's in the very early stages of its creation.

In front of it is The Dark One, who may possibly be the sole creator of this beast.

------

"I got plenty of time to finish you. Plenty of angels to utilize in your creation and plenty of spare parts from the EVA Graveyard. I bet none of them even bother to go down there at all, so i'm certainly in no trouble...at all, so i'll show them all what real talent and skill can go to making one of these things work at their full potential", The Dark One growled in his cold, menacing, mechanical tone.

He then raised his arms up, cackled and walked off into the darkness, only to vanish into it as usual.


	14. Chapter 13: Somewhat Back in Business

**Chapter 13: (Somewhat) Back in Business.

* * *

**

February has already arrived.

Valentines had approached, yet while Rei had plans to give Shinji secret admirer, but out of nowhere, she came down with some kind of sickness. Nothing too serious at all, just a regular flu, but even that had taken the almost fully recovered 13 year old (about nearly a month shy away from turning 14) and knocked her a couple of notches down.

Mari, on the other hand, who managed to avoid getting sick, contemplated giving Kensuke some secret admirer letters, but chickened out in the end, instead helping Rei getting completely well and able to return to duty.

------

"Why did I have to get sick all of a sudden?", Rei asked to herself while holding a mug filled with hot chocolate that's got marshmellows swimming on top. She then coughed a little, then sneezed.

"Yeah. Even with this year long weather we have, you just can't keep them pesky viruses down", Mari replied as she then walked towards Rei with a thermometer. "Okay now, open wide"

Rei then opened her mouth, in which Mari put the thermometer into Rei's mouth. Rei then closed her mouth, but kept the thermometer under her tongue in order for it to properly work.

This took about a good minute, in which Mari then pulled the thermometer out of Rei's mouth. Mari examined it and muttered out "Well...at least its better than yesterday"

"So...*cough*...what's my temperature?", Rei asked, despite her voice sounding a bit groggy and proceeded to take a sip of her hot chocolate.

"101.", Mari informed

"Well...i'm still *cough* a bit sick, but that's quite an *cough* improvement from yesterday's 105", Rei responded. She then continued to drink her hot chocolate. She even got a marshmellow this time around.

"So...how's your arm doing?", Mari asked Rei

"Misato, Yui and Ritsuko told me that the cast is coming off in *cough* two days. At least I didn't need to *cough* wear that bandage over my eye anymore. That got intensely irritating as hell after a while.", Rei replied

"Yeah. Especially since you wern't going to be permanently blind in that eye. Hell, why do you even need the cast since you can really work it out again", Mari responded back.

"I know. Its complete ass that I can't have my cast taken off today, especially since I have the goddamn flu now", Rei remarked, in which she then coughed a big one after finishing her sentence.

"Well, Ayanami. Might as well rest up and take the medication Dr. Akagi provided you to get well. Didn't she say that the stuff was so strong that you would be back in good health in no time?", Mari asked

"That's right. *Cough* well...wanna watch a movie?", Rei replied and asked

"Sure. What film we're going to watch on the telly? Especially since i'm only going to be staying here for a few more days, because once the cast is off, i'll be moving back into my place.", Mari informed

"Well...heh...*cough*...i'm in the mood...to watch some Saw", Rei replied as she nervously smiled

"Oh bollocks. You're such a sicko, Ayanami. A real sicko, you know?", Mari scoffed in a rather irritated and pissy tone.

"Come on, Mari. They're without a doubt utter crap, but well-made and cleverly plotted crap, that is", Rei smirked and replied in a playful tone

"Okay Ayanami, savor me the bullshit. Which one?", Mari asked in an irritated, grumpy tone

Rei thought for a second, finished up her hot chocolate, which had cooled down a bit during her conversation with her soon-to-be former roommate. After she completed drinking her hot chocolate, she then put the mug into the sink, walked to her goody bag of DVDs, pulled out the Saw films she owned. As she stared and shuffled them around, she kept self-debating which one should be watched.

"Ummm....emmm...*cough*...how about...ummmm...how about #7?", Rei asked

"Ugh...bollocks. Alright, make me suffer, then", Mari groaned.

Rei then pranced towards her PS3 with the DVD in hand, put it in and got the movie all set up, while coughing a little and even sneezing at one point. Right before she actually started the movie, she asked Mari "Hey. Hand me the medication. I should give a it shot now", in which Mari responded by tossing the box containing the medication towards her.

Rei immediately opened the box and was presented with a jar of some liquid

"Aw man.", Rei groaned, in which she then walked to the kitchen, pulled a spoon out of a drawer, opened the jar, poured some of the liquid into the spoon, put the jar down, leaned over the sink with the spoon in hand, clamped her other hand onto her nose and plunged the liquid into her mouth, in which she then swallowed the rancid tasting liquid, gagged a little, but pretty much allowed it to slither down her throat.

"I hope this crap kills this flu", Rei groaned to herself right after she swallowed the terrible tasting liquid, walked back to the TV and started the movie up.

* * *

Two days have since passed and to Rei's (and Mari's) surprise, the sickness she had has been immediately cured, right on time for her to get her cast removed.

------

"So you were right, Dr. Akagi. That medicine certainly had the kicks to knock that flu out", Rei told Ritsuko, in which it was revealed that both of them are inside a medical lab inside Nerv HQ.

"That's because we can't afford to have a pilot sick on the job", Ritsuko informed. After she said that, Yui Ikari stepped in and commented "Ah. So you're here to get that cast off, Ayanami"

"Yes, Mrs. Ikari", Rei replied in a respectful manner "I can't wait to have this silly thing off me."

"Well...let's get started.", Yui replied.

Ritsuko then yelled "Lt. Ibuki! You got the saw ready?"

Maya then walked out with the saw in hand, yet displayed a massive amount of nervousness in her body movement. "Ummm...senpai, i'm too scared to do this", she whined out

However, Aoba popped in the room and yanked the saw from Maya's grasps, shouting out "I'll do it". He then walked up to Rei and calmfully told her "Alright, Ayanami. Relax. Just relax and it'll be off in mere seconds."

Rei nodded and replied "Okay, Aoba." and leaned her arm with the cast on out.

Ritsuko and Maya then held Rei's arm as Aoba cut the cast off in a calm, careful, precisioned matter. Slowly, he cut through the cast, thankfully not even getting the blade too close to the skin of Rei's arm.

* * *

After about a minute of careful cutting precision, they had managed to cut the cast well enough to have it easily removed with ease, though it took Ritsuko, Yui, Maya and Aoba to all split the cast in half, entirely removing it completely.

Immediately after splitting the cast in half, they dropped both halves onto the floor, yet Rei then raised her arm into view, grasped her fingers and moved it around, just to feel her hand being free at last again from the cast.

She then grinned and said "Thank you. So...does that mean back to piloting Zero?"

"Correct.", Yui replied back "As soon as the next angel arrives, you and Shinji will both tackle it together."

"I understand.", Rei responded while nodding her head.

"Ayanami, you're excused. Go back home and savior the rest of the day with the freedom you have again", Yui informed Rei.

Rei then nodded, told Yui "Thank you, Mrs. Ikari", and walked out of the room. However, she then stopped, turned towards Aoba and told him "I'll be over for my lessons tomorrow, okay?"

"Cool. Looking forward to another jam", Aoba replied and smirked.

Rei then finished walking out of the room.

* * *

After she walked out, Mari, who was sitting on a chair outside of the room, stood up and told Rei "Well..I gotta go back to your place and pack my stuff. It was fun helping you out, though."

"Yeah...Still...you'll come by and visit?", Rei asked

"Absolutely. That's what friends do, right? I bet we'll even take on an angel one of these days as a team. Along with you...ahem...Shinji", Mari responded while smirking

Rei blushed, then replied "Well...hopefully. Then again, he hasn't even kept up on his promise of coming over"

"Well...you never know", Mari remarked.

The two girls then walked through the hallways, even passing by that room Commander Ikari was in that one time.

"Dammit. Why did I have to get that damn cherry! I knew that friggin' blue ghost would scramble my ass! DAMMIT, DAMMIT DAMMIT!!!", Commander Ikari growled in sheer frustration and irritation while a banging sound was heard, which obviously translated into him banging his fists on the arcade cabinet.

The two girls then giggled, in which the Commander heard the laughter and yelled out "Who is laughing?!?". The two girls then heard the yell and ran as far away as they could from the hallway.

* * *

Back at Rei's apartment room, Mari was packing her bags and belongings, due to her no longer needing to help Rei around the house anymore.

However, Rei herself was in the process of getting ready to take a shower. Yet, after Mari has finished packing her bags, she then told Rei "Alright Ayanami. I'm going"

Rei, now simply stripped down to a black bikini and black panties, walked up to Mari, in which they gave each other a friendly hug. Rei then replied "Take care, Mari. See you around. Bye!"

"BYE!!", Mari shot back as she was waving and walking out of the door. Rei waved back, then after Mari was gone, she then walked back into the bathroom.

* * *

Inside the bathroom, she opened the shower door, in which the shower hose was running. The water, after Rei felt it, was at the perfect temperature, thus she could take it now.

Rei then undid her bra, tossed it aside, then took off her panties, tossed them aside and walked into the shower.

She let the water splash onto her pale skin, blue hair and various body parts. What made things even easier was the lack of a cast and eye bandage, so she can REALLY get herself cleaned up, which pleased her immensely.

However, something is about...to happen that will embarrass her greatly...in a very bittersweet manner.

* * *

As Mari made her way home, she ended up catching Shinji coming the opposite way. With her knowing that Rei has a thing for him, she decided to ask Shinji "Hey Ikari. Where you're going?"

"Is....is...is Ayanami home? And...what's with the bags?", Shinji asked

"Well...I made a promise to her that I would stay at her place and help her out until her injuries healed up and since she's all well now...I don't need to help her, so i'm moving back to my place...despite that I got a real bollocks of a telly.", Mari replied

"So...do you think she would be alright if I stop by and visit her? Dr. Ikari asked me to give her this new ID card", Shinji replied as he held up an ID card with Rei's picture, name and ID #.

"Well...Shinji. She would totally love to chat with you and having her new card personally delivered by you, so head on over. She'll be waiting for ya", Mari replied while glowing off a large grin.

"Ummm...great. See you at HQ and school, Makinami", Shinji replied back as he put Rei's new ID card back into his pocket.

Though Shinji started to continue walking towards the direction that would take him to the apartment complex, Mari then said "However...there's something important that I must tell you...", yet she then quickly shrugged it off, added "Never mind. See you around, Shinji" and walked away.

* * *

Shinji finally made his way to the apartment complex. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out a paper containing the information regarding the apartment room Rei lives in and such.

------

"Room 402. Okay...", Shinji muttered as he looked at the paper. After examining it well enough, he put it back into his pocket and made his way towards Rei's apartment room.

* * *

2 minutes later, Shinji finally arrived at the front of Rei's apartment room. He, at first, attempted ringing the doorbell, only to discover a note that said "Sorry, its broken.". He then tried knocking on the door, yet no one answered, so he then tried to open to door, only for it to open successfully.

Despite feeling guilty of opening the door without asking, he walked into the apartment room and shut the door behind him.

Before he actually made his way into the apartment room, he took off his shoes and took a look around. Much to his shock, he saw much of the apartment room filled with movie posters of 70s/80s horror flicks and heavy metal bands, the various CDs and DVDs laying around, the television, the PS3 and 360, as well as the other belongings, yet the one thing that really caught his eyes was a black and blue Ibanez Destroyer DT200.

Mesmerized picked it up and examined it. "Ayanami. I didn't know you play guitar", he muttered, despite her not being around." However, a yell completely alerted him.

"Shinji, what are you doing here!?!", Rei yelled at him. She had just stepped out of the shower and put a dark grey towel around her wet body, thus that being the only thing she had on.

"Ummmm...ummmm", Shinji nervously replied as his face turned pink.

"Why are you holding my guitar? Why did you come in here without asking? and most importantly...why, of all times, did you come here when i'm only wearing this towel!?!", Rei yelled out

"I'm....i'm...i'm sorry.", Shinji apologized, yet Rei had started to attempt to pull her guitar out of Shinji's grasps, yet Shinji then lost his balance, resulting in Rei' losing her balance as well, in which both of them slipped and fell down, yet the guitar thankfully had a soft landing and rolled away from the two kids. Rei's towel also flew up in the air, exposing her wet, naked body.

Rei had landed on the floor back first while Shinji landed on top of her, resulting them...ahem...being in a compromising position.

While Shinji was entirely nervous of the whole, Rei, while being pissed that Shinji walked in without her position, was very much pleased that he had finally come by and visited her...though under circumstances that she wasn't exactly proud of.

* * *

For about 25 seconds, they just remained in that position, looking at each other. Shinji kept his nervous expression while Rei's face turned from a look of anger into a cute, joy-filled smile. However, that didn't last very long as she then noticed that Shinji had one of his hands on one of her breasts, causing her to react by kicking him off of her.

------

"Owww....i'm sorry for doing that", Shinji whimpered out

"Seriously, Ikari. You should've just called. What you just did was uncalled for", Rei barked out "Did Mari even tell you that I was in the shower?!?"

"Uhhhh...no. She didn't even mention that you were in the shower at all. I'm honest", Shinji whimpered in response.

Rei snickered in response, because she knew that Mari was a bit of a trickster at times. However, she couldn't keep Shinji staring at her beautiful, pale naked body, so she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.

Shinji, while waiting for what Rei was going to do next, just stood in the room, with Rei's ID card in hand.

* * *

About 3 minutes later, Rei exited the bathroom, wearing a black tank top, some Levi jeans, her leather biker jacket and socks. However, she walked by Shinji, put her shoes on and walked out of the door, all while ignoring him.

Since he still needed to give her the ID card, he put his shoes back on simply followed her.

* * *

Rei had stopped by the local subway station, in which after she went inside, Shinji followed.

He had sat himself on one seat and Rei sat on another close to Shinji's.

------

"Ayanami! I need to give you something!", Shinji yelped. However, Rei gave him a glare, popped out her CD player, a copy of Infester's "To the Depths... In Degradation" and flat out ignored him.

After the subway train ride, Rei (With Shinji following) then headed straight to HQ.

* * *

Once Rei arrived at the entry way to HQ, she tried to use her ID card to open the door. However, nothing happened. The scanner did not accept her card.

She then attempted to scan it several more times while her frustrations with the scanner rose. However, Shinji, who was right behind her, scanned the new ID card, in which the door opened. After he did that, he told Rei "I've been meaning to give you your new ID card at your apartment room. Dr. Akagi told me to give it to you."

Unamused, Rei barked out "Give that to me" then proceeded to snatch her new ID card out of Shinji's hand. She then made her way to the escalator while Shinji followed.

On the escalator, Shinji then apologized to Rei "Well...i'll repeat what I said earlier. I am so, so sorry. I should've asked Makinami if you were busy. You didn't answer the door when I knocked and the doorbell is broken so I...I had no other choice to come in...especially since I meant to come by earlier"

However, Rei, still annoyed over the mess that happened, turned around and simply slapped him across the face. She then remained silent and didn't mutter a word. Shinji, having respect towards her, decided to not piss her off any more, since after all, life is way too short and that she'll get over it fairly quickly and forgive him and thus, they both made their way into the lobby to do their seperate things. Shinji had to have some training while Rei and Mari had to do their own things.

Although both of them passed by Mari on separate occasions, they promptly ignored her, due to that she pretty much was responsible for the incident that happened earlier.

Yet this did not at all meant the end of friendships at all. It was just a minor hiccup and nothing else.

* * *

Somewhere in Antarctica, an American boat was there to hunt Otters for food for some fast food chain that specialized in Otter meat.

------

"My my. Check out all of 'em otters. We sure as fuck hit the jackpot of jackpots", One of the fishermen remarked

"No shit, Franco. the big boys at Willywand is sure as hell going to give us big bucks for this load", another fishermen, who is smoking a cuban cigar, replied.

However, the otters then started to scramble away from the iceberg they were taking refuge on and the air was filled with an ethereal, chorus like sound.

"Dijya hear that Marty? It's...fucking beautiful, man. Like fuckin' opera", a third fisherman commented on the sound.

Franco the Fisherman then looked up, pulled his cigar out of his mouth and blurted out in an awe-struck matter "My god...its...its...its a fuckin' diamond, man."

"A REALLY BIG diamond", the first fisherman replied

However, the diamond suddenly configured itself into a different shape and started to light up, in which the ethereal chanting slowed down and stopped at the same time. The bright, purple light then became a laser blast that made its way towards the boat.

"OH SHI...", the third fisherman screamed. However, he was cut off as the blast entirely obliterated the boat into smithereens, killing all of the fishermen on the boat.

The Fifth Angel, Ramiel, has surfaced out of the white moon like its fellow angels. Now with its obstacle out of the way, it then reshaped back into its diamond form, in which the ethereal chanting started again and started to float its way towards Japan like an unstoppable monolith.

Such a perfect opportunity for The First Child, Rei Ayanami, to tackle on another angel again after her absence.

However, her time in the sun...has to wait.


	15. Chapter 14: Fear of the Death Diamond

**Chapter 14: Fear of the Death Diamond

* * *

**

"Another angel on the way, eh?", a familiar mechanical voice inquired.

"Of course, Dark One. Though I will point out that this angel took out an entire American fisherman boat with one particle bolt. This will certainly mean that the old men will be here and thus...you should be on your way to your own thing.", Gendo responded.

"Obviously. Sure don't want your wife, Fuyutsuki and the old men to know that I am not quite in seclusion like the world likes to believe.", The Dark One growled

As the Dark One started to disappeared in the darkness, Gendo then shouted out "Oh, and for the sake of others...don't be late when you're needed."

"I know", The Dark One snarled, then totally vanished into the shadows.

* * *

With the Dark One totally gone, Yui and Fuyutsuki both walked into the room and sat down by Gendo.

------

"I suppose the old men are ready, considering that an angel is on its way.", Fuyutsuki muttered

"Yes.", Gendo simply replied

"So...which pilot we're sending out this time?", Fuyutsuki asked

"My son", Gendo quickly responded.

"What about Rei and Unit 00? Considering the low reliability rate of Unit 01, the safety of our son and the amount of determination Ayanami has, why Unit 01?", Yui asked in a deeply concerned tone.

"I believe that Unit 01 and Shinji need more experience. If all else fails, we'll get Rei and Unit 00 out there as soon as possible", Gendo muttered.

Yui then facepalmed, but then put her other hand over her face then whispered to herself "The EVA...is useless. It has no soul. My son...won't be able to take on the angel. Unit 01 is useless."

* * *

"You know, boys. I'm gonna tell ya all a story", some crazy old Caucasian man with long hair and a long beard mumbled

"You're serious that you want to listen to this crazy grandpa?" Toji smugly asked Kensuke.

"Oh come on. I enjoy hearing the stories he has to tell.", Kensuke joyfully replied

Toji groaned, then replied back "Aw alright, but just one story, kay."

"Yeah...one story, i'll promise", Kensuke responded while holding his thumb, index finger and middle finger on his right hand in the air.

"Okay, sonnies. It was way back in '93 when I still a US citizen.", the old Caucasian man explained "A good friend of mine, god bless his soul, brought over a CD for me to listen to. The cover was quite spooky, which consisted of a black and white cover of some wild looking person in a car and another person with his rear in view. The text on that cover was yellow...aw shit, I can't even remember what the goddamn thing was called. Don't even think anyone does after the Second Impact."

The old man thought for a second, then resumed. "Anyways, so I put the CD into my stereo system, plugged my headset into the stereo and played the fucker. My god, it was so goddam scary, I even forgot that I was even on this earth. Keep in mind that I forgot to mention that I dropped some of the good ol' LS of D into myself, which outright intensified the experience. It was so fuckin' scary, I swear, I shouldn't have dropped the acid. The fuckin' thing was like walkin' in the streets, only to witness two automobiles colliding in front of you, multiplied by a thousand. In fact, if you youngins manage to find the bugger, then I would appreciate that you actually gave two dimes and a shit to help an old geezer like me out."

"Well...sir. I love to help you out, but I need to know...", Kensuke asked, only for him to be pulled by Toji via his shirt

"Come on, Kensuke. I like to help the crazy old man too, but the thing is that we got other things to deal with", Toji sternly replied

"Uhhh...like what? He don't even get school work to take home", Kensuke replied back

Feeling stupefied by Kensuke's words, Toji simply responded chuckling with a dopey look on his face "Uhhh...yeah. If we ever find anything remotely similar to that CD you described, we'll certainly bring it to you"

"Oh you boys. That would be more appreciative of you.", the old man kindly replied "Well...if you find a copy, please, go visit me at that little hut you see in the right within the alleyway. That's my hut...and don't forget to bring me a portable CD player. I'm too poor to make any yen for myself, so yeah...good luck and...don't even try to listen to it yourselves...unless you're brave enough"

"uhhh...heh. Well, we'll try to find it, but sir...we gotta go home", Toji nervously responded while pushing Kensuke away.

"Well...you two sonnies take care of yourselves...see you around!", the old man kindly replied back while waving.

"Oh come on, Toji. We gotta help our elders, even if they're a bit wacko...like me", Kensuke wheezed.

"Thing is, bro. Your type of wacko is cool, but that old man is just bananas.", Toji snorted

"Feh. Just chill out, Suzuhara.", Kensuke libbed and started to walk, in which Toji, for a brief second, was in a self-irritated la la land, only to realize that his buddy had walked off on him.

"Hey Aida! Wait!!!", Toji panicked as he then darted off in hopes of finding his friend, only to unintentionally dive right into person donned in a long black trench coat and a black fedora, which pretty much knocked both of them cleanly onto their asses.

"Oh i'm sorry, bro...", Toji apologized, but the jumped back after being startled by seeing the person's face, which was hideously disfigured.

"Oh shit...the hell?!?", Toji gasped as he stood up "What kind of pizza blew up into your face?"

However, as Kensuke saw his friend Toji and the disfigured person, he ran up to Toji, helped him up, took a glimpse at the other person, then told Toji "Suzuhara, that person appears to been burned once. Show some respect"

"Uhhh...what?", Toji numbingly replied in a dopey tone

"Nevermind, i'll explain it later. Let's find that CD", Kensuke spouted out in response.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's beat it.", Toji replied back

Both boys then dodged away in mere seconds.

* * *

However, the person, who had helped itself up already, had seemingly pulled a knife out of its pocket and has it held in its right hand.

"Thing is that i'm a woman and despite my scars...god's mission for me is to prepare for the third coming", the disfigured woman sternly informed to herself.

"These things are messengers from god, much like i'm an agent of god to bring salvation to others, even if it means killing the innocent to prevent them from committing sin. God loves me and my savior will help me guide the way"

* * *

"Mrs. Ikari. With the fifth angel on its way, I suppose you and your husband will keep in mind to keep damage control on the highest level possible.", the slightly younger looking old man with some hair informed to Yui, Gendo and Fuyutsuki.

"I suppose. But when fighting an angel, damage control is not necessarily our first priority. Its usually ensuring the survival of the children and the Evangelions.", Yui quickly shot back

Gendo, however, cut off his wife and replied "Affirmative. We will try to keep the damage control high as much as possible"

"Good, Ikari.", the old man with the visor inquired. "Now...if you are willing to mend minds with me, but I like to introduce you to a little something I like to call the Human Instrumentality Project."

"The Human Instrumentality Project?", Yui sternly asked in confusion

"This Project we're proposing to you three is the melding of all souls into one. Unity of all souls for an harmonious evolution.", another old man added in

"Excuse me. You're suggesting to delve into a project dedicated to the destruction of our singularity existence?", Yui barked angrily.

"Well...we suspect that it'll be an orgasmic union of ecstasy for all humanity", a third old man added in as well.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on! You mean that we'll sacrifice our humanity and self-identity in favor of an eternal fuckfest in which all boundaries are junked in favor of just fucking without purpose and age gaps? I REFUSE to even consider such a project. The only reason why we, Nerv even bothered to co-cooperate with you, Seele, is because we needed funding for the creation of our hope to prevent a Third Impact, despite the fact that even with these Evangelions we have, my poor son's EVA cannot quite work as well as the others. And even with that flub, all of our business with you is just fiscal, not to mention that the rest of the world is anxiously watching us execute these Evangelions and see if they're viable for other forms of combat", Yui complained and informed with a very furious look on her face.

"Now, now, Yui. Even if various military operations around the world are keeping a keen eye on the Evangelions, most international governments wouldn't even approve a war machine that requires a child to pilot it. The only reason you are able to do so is because the information of children piloting them is pretty much kept privately.", yet another old man added in

"Though from what I remember, young people throughout history, mostly boys, were thrust into combat, so that is just a structurally poor argument", Fuyutsuki inquired, due to his knowledge of history among the world

"But with current policies, mostly those past the 18 year mark are always put into combat and considering that Mrs. Ikari nearly lost her life during an early test surrounding Unit 01, the possibility of the Evangelions becoming a mass distributed, mass produced weapon of war is very slim to none.", the old man with the visor quipped. "Thus regardless of what little 'save the world' plan you have in store, you must at least try and stick to our game plan"

However, Yui, incredibly infuriated with what the old man had said, erected up and screamed bluntly "BULLSHIT, KIEL! I REFUSE TO EVEN BACK YOUR HALF-ASSED PLAN FOR PREMATURE EVOLUTION, ENTIRELY BUNDLED WITH ITS PORNOGRAPHIC IN NATURE SIAMESE TWIN REALITY! I'M DONE WITH THIS CONVERSATION!!", In which after finishing her words, she then started to head out of the room

"Wait...Yui!", Gendo yelled out in concern. However, Fuyutsuki lightly restrained him from getting up.

"Not now, Gendo. Don't want to make your wife even madder than she is. Let's try to finish this meeting with ease.", Fuyutsuki calmly replied via a whisper

Gendo exhaled, slumped, then whispered back "Alright. Let's finish this. Who knows how much longer it'll take for the Fifth Angel to show up here."

* * *

"Hey, i'm sorry for not telling Shinji that you were taking a shower", Mari apologized. She and Rei are in the local record shop.

"No. I should be the one apologizing for going nuclear on you and Ikari the other day", Rei sincerely apologized. "Looking back, I should've been estatic that Shinji finally took his word and visited...just not in that exact circumstance."

"Well...at least Shinji got to see your total package", Mari snarked

Rei, who's cheeks turned pink in embarrassment, shrugged "Oh, come on. It wasn't time for him to see me in full"

Since she's in the record shop, Rei's not just conversing with her friend, but is also browsing through the CD racks, only for one particular CD to stick right into her eyes, in which her impulse was to snatch it immediately.

However, right after she snatched it, Mari then asked "So you found something, eh? Can I see what it is?"

"NO! Ummm...just no.", Rei snapped back like an angry alligator fighting back its prey.

"Huh? Why all resistant to show me your finding?", Mari asked in an innocent and puzzled tone

"Thing is that....yeah, let's just go. I'll be heading to the cash register to pay for it", Rei informed in a tone that half read like a growl and half like a slight apology.

"Well...okay then, Ayanami. After all, there isn't much to do here, I don't really have much money on me at the moment and on top of that, you never know when we're going to be needed for another angel battle", Mari quipped in response.

So while Rei pays for her CD (Which she pretty much refuses to show to anyone else), Mari steps outside to get some fresh air

* * *

She plants herself onto a bench and takes a good look at the bright, clear blue sky...only to see a very unusual tell-tale sign.

------

"Huh...what? Is that really what I think it is?", Mari muttered to herself in absolute disbelief. She then stood up on the bench to peak as close as she humanly could, only to mutter in disbelief "Is that what it really is? This is so...weird. Like a goddamn death star, but a goddamn blue diamond. Such bollocks."

Some guy then ran by, screaming "Aw shit! And this is what I get for not getting my wife a diamond for valentines!".

While she saw pandemonium unfold into her eyes, she heard a very familiar voice call out behind her "Uhhh....the hell is going on, Mari?"

Mari turned around and saw that Rei was standing behind her, having no clue about the insanity that has just developed.

"What's going on?", Rei asked her friend, looking a bit confused

"Take a look for yourself and see the great gig in the sky that's developing. It's sure going to be a horror show to witness", Mari replied.

Rei then go on top of the bench, took a look in the sky and say the diamond, spouting "Oh shit! I think its an angel!"

"You mean....bollocks! We need to get to HQ ASAP!", Mari yelled in shock, realizing the true nature of what's unfolding.

"But we walked over here on foot, Mari! Just the two of us on foot won't quite help", Rei yelled back

"Now if we try to leave now, we might be able to make it", Mari chimed back in response.

"True", Rei sternly replied. "Now let's go!"

Both girls then took off, running.

* * *

Despite trying their hardest and being in good shape and health, the distance from their current location to HQ was too great for even both of them.

------

"Jeez. We'll be way too crippled and way too late to even stop the angel at this pace", Mari gasped in exhaustion.

"Yeah..though i'm certainly not as tired as you are", Rei shot back

"Though eventually, even a light wind would easily knock you down for the count", Mari quipped and wheezed.

However, while walking, a familiar, friendly voice called out.

"You girls need a ride?", said the soft, calm, warm female voice.

Both girls then turned around and saw none other than Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, being seen in civilian clothing. Quite a rare sight for virtually everyone.

"Lt. Ibuki...i'm sure glad to even see you under these circumstances.", Mari replied in relief.

"Good to hear. Since I need to be on time more often, I was on my way to HQ, but then I saw you two walking, so I thought 'Hey. I bet they would appreciate it if I took 'em over with me' and thus, here I am", Maya joyfully and kindly responded.

"Well, I think I can make it over to HQ alone. I don't really need the ride", Rei shot back, only to be interrupted by Mari, who was pushing her towards Maya's fairly outdated and banged up automobile.

"Come on, Rei. We need to stop that angel soon, so let's make our superior employee proud by accepting her act of kindness towards us", Mari told Rei.

"Oh good. Thanks for accepting my offer. Get in. In fact, I want you, Rei, to sit in the front.", Maya ordered the girls, in which she then opened the front passenger seat. Mari then shoved Rei into the front passenger seat, only to shut the door as she walked towards the closest car door she can get into. Like she did with the front passenger seat, she closed the door as soon as she got herself in. Maya then stepped into the car herself, shut the driver's seat, put on her seatbelt, started up the car and drove off towards the roadway that's the fastest route to HQ.

* * *

"So...why exactly did you pick us up?", Rei sternly asked, thinking that there's some other motive behind Maya's decision to help 'em out get to HQ.

"Well. Aside from just being kind and helping you two out, I also wanted us to get to know each other a little better. Despite the positions we have at Nerv, I personally feel that we all should at least know each other a bit more", Maya calmly explained

Rei turned her head away towards the window after hearing Maya's explanation. Not only that, but she's also keeping hold of her newly purchased CD in strong enough clutches that it even brought the attention to Maya herself.

"What's that you got in your hands, Rei?", Maya asked

"Don't even bother asking. She's all secretive over whatever pap she got in the record shop", Mari informed in a fairly cocky tone

"Why not you put it in?", Maya chimed in, asking Rei.

"No. Just, no.", Rei snapped back

"Okay. Fine with me, since we're almost here.", Maya replied while informing.

And thus they had drived right inside the entryway to Nerv HQ. All the two girls need to know is who exactly is going into battle against this new angel.

* * *

About approx. 20 minutes later, Rei and Mari had already got into their plug suits, while Maya, to everyone's surprise, had managed to not be late this time.

------

"You're on time this time. Quite unusual.", Aoba smirked

"Yeah. I also saw Rei and Mari walking towards HQ, so I decided to pick 'em up and get 'em here to speed things up", Maya replied

"Well...thats' good", Misato replied back. She then stood in the center and told the kids "Alright. For this angel fight, me and the Ikaris have come to the decision to get Shinji and Unit 01 out there for this battle"

"Huh?", Rei asked, being surprised that even now that she is ready to fight, is still not quite ready to head in the battlefield

"Well..for backup underground, Mari will be there. As for you, Ayanami, you just wait here and watch with us until further notice", Misato informed

"Okay, I understand.", Rei calmly replied and thus stood there to watch

"Mari and Shinji. Get into position, now!", Misato barked and commanded, in which both pilots ran off to head towards their EVAs.

While Shinji ran out of the room, Rei called out by simply saying "Be careful. Same with you, Mari" and just stood there, being both half-worried for her co-pilots and half-irritated that she can't fight this fight.

* * *

Another five minutes later, Unit 01 and Shinji had finally surfaced out of the ground. The Fifth Angel is simply floating its way towards HQ, with Shinji hiding in position with a rifle. He then peaks out and lets out a flurry of gun fire. No effect.

However, the angel then reconfigure itself, much like it did back in Antarctica before it destroyed the fisher boat.

------

"Oh shit. What is it doing?", Misato barked out, sounding very puzzled

"Oh no. Shinji, get out of the way!!", Yui screamed out, recalling the report Seele had given them earlier in regards to the attack to the fisher boat

"Mother?", Shinji simply stated, sounding a little confused, only in which his confusion gave Ramiel enough time to unleash its fury by shooting out a particle bolt, hitting Unit 01 right in the chest.

Yet all Shinji could muster out is an extremely long and painful string of screams of agony.

"SHINJI!!", Misato screamed

"Dammit, Dammit! Send me out to assist him!", Rei screamed back

"No...its too dangerous. In fact, we don't even know what to do against this angel. At all.", Misato replied back in a half-stern, half-worried tone.

"But what about Shinji? How the hell are we going to get him out?", Rei asked

However, Gendo then boomed out "Release the restraints on the buildings. We need to keep Shinji alive and Unit 01 in a working state. NOW!"


	16. Chapter 15: Operation Yashima

**Chapter 15: Operation Yashima

* * *

**

Shinji Ikari. The Third Child.

Today, he and Unit 01 had been sent out to take on the angel Ramiel.

However, due to a lack of knowledge of the angel's attack patterns, Unit 01 has had some slight damage in part by the particle bolt the angel possesses, as well as the claim Yui Ikari has put out in regards of Unit 01's stability and usability.

* * *

Rei Ayanami. The First Child.

She harbors a slight attraction towards Shinji, yet at the same time, is determined to get back into Unit 00, her Evangelion, after being unable to take part in the angel battles since her fight with Sachiel, due to injuries she received. Now that she's fully healed, she wants to take part in another angel battle.

And she will, due to the developments that are in gestation.

* * *

Mari Illustriuous Makinami. The Fifth Child (Never mind the odd ordering)

Like Rei, she wants to fight an angel as well, but while Rei at least fought one, Mari hasn't even gotten the chance to do so, mainly because she's always given duties to guard Nerv's underground tunnel.

Now...little does she know that she too will get to participate in this angel fight.

A very awkward fight it'll be....

* * *

Ramiel, the Fifth Angel, has floated its way over a crucial spot by HQ. Rather than shooting the place up with its particle bolt, it instead does something else.

On the bottom of it, something begins to stretch out, much life a solid mass of gelatin morphing into the shape of a drill. It slowly starts to get closer to the ground...only to drill through.

* * *

"It appears that the angel is trying to drill its way towards Terminal Dogma", Commander Ikari confirms.

"Yet we decided to let our son go out and fight it, despite us not knowing how to even combat it in the first place", Yui added in, speaking in a tone full of despair and irritation.

"But...how are we going to defeat it is the real question.", Commander Ikari shot back.

However, Misato, who was being mostly quiet during this meeting, suddenly had a light bulb flash into her head as she remembered something that could ultimately stop the angel.

"I got it. What about that experimental Position Rifle protoype that the JSSDF had just finished?", Misato yelled in excitement, in hope that her proposal will go well with her superiors.

"Well...that sounds like a plan. Just by the look of it, we can't really get too close to it and normal bullets have no effect on it, so it must be an effective weapon", Commander Ikari mused

"But how long will it take for us to receive it and get the preparations set up?", Misato asked in a concerned tone

"I suppose it would only take until the evening/early morning, since the JSSDF warehouse isn't too far from Tokyo-3", Commander Ikari replied

"Though our son is still recovering and Unit 01 needs a new chest plate, Gendie", Yui barked in an frustrated, yet extremely worried tone

"Yui. Shinji and Unit 01 will have the task of manning the Position Rifle, while Rei and Unit 00 and Mari and Unit 05 will provide backup, with Mari in the back and Rei in the front.", Gendo inquired

"Sounds like a plan, darling.", Yui replied back with a smile. She then turned towards Misato and told her "Misato. Now I want you to first tell Mari to suit up and be prepared, then go give the mission briefing notes to Rei and order her to brief my son on what we're doing"

"So...why Ayanami? Can I just tell him myself?", Misato questioned Yui

"Thing is, Misato, is that we need you to obtain the Position Rifle from the JSSDF warehouse with some of our fellow coworkers while the rest of us go quickly patch up Unit 01 and get it in Sniper Mode. Also, I know that she's fond of my son, so her being the first thing he sees waking up would be most beneficial", Yui responded.

"Yes Mrs. Ikari.", Misato bowed, then walked out of the room to do her objectives.

* * *

After Misato walked out of the room, Yui then turned her attention towards her husband, telling him "Well, we better get the EVAs ready. We only got so much time before the angel penetrates through Central Dogma"

"Yes...even though we technically can't let it start Third Impact.", Gendo replied back.

"Even though having it down there isn't really the best of ideas, we can't let the angels get to it.", Yui responded.

"Yes", Gendo simply replied.

Both then sat quietly for a couple of seconds, only for Yui to suddenly ask "Was it Unit 00 or Unit 01 that was made from Lilith?"

"Ummm...jeez. I can't even remember.", Gendo replied while thrusting his palms against his forehead and face.

"See...if you just stop worrying more about those goddamn arcade games and instead the stuff that really matters. Like our son and the EVAs.", Yui growled.

"Yeah, yeah, honey.", Gendo groaned while taking his glasses off and cleaning the lenses up with his red shirt. He then put them back on and replied "I suck."

"Well, you don't always suck. Especially in bed.", Yui reminded.

"Of course. Though can you remind me WHY we haven't been having our intimite moments again?", Gendo asked.

"Uhhhh...yeah. Let's get the EVAs ready, okay?", Yui commanded.

"That's right. Let's go.", Gendo muttered, in which both Ikaris then stood up and walked out of the room.

* * *

"Shinji. Shinji. Wake up, Shinji."

Shinji Ikari, the Third Child, hears a familiar female voice calling out of him, as well as feeling what seems like a hand shaking his left shoulder just for added effect in the attempt to wake him up

"ugh ugh....eh.", Shinji grunted while opening, rubbing his eyes and stretching his arms, yet the very first things he realized are: 1.) He's naked and 2.) Rei, wearing a Slayer "Divine Intervention" t-shirt and blue jeans, is standing in front of him with some papers in hand.

"Uhhh...Ayanami?", Shinji asked, sounding puzzled "Am I still alive...and if so...why am I naked?"

"Well...let's just say that Misato and your parents fucked up by rushing you and 1 in without examining its attacks and defense strategies", Rei quickly replied in a cheeky, yet mildly sarcastic tone.

"So...is the angel still out there?". Shinji calmly asked

"No shit it is. In fact, i'm hear by Misato's orders to tell you what we three will be doing to stop that son of a bitch diamond in the sky.", Rei chatted back.

"Well...", Shinji quietly replied, then looked down his sheets in a way that did not expose himself to Rei, then replied "...I guess i'm in okay shape."

"Yeah...even though you were in such horrible pain...well, I was in excruciating pain during my fight after it did a number on me and Zero, at least you..and me are both alive.", Rei replied

"So...what do you mean by we three?", Shinji asked, tilting his head sideways.

"You, me and Mari. We three and our EVAs will be heading out by...*shuffles and looks through paper* well...gee, all this combat/military babble. Anyways, to sum things up, me, you and Mari will be heading out in our EVAs at a certain time and at the rendezvous point somewhere between late this evening and early tomorrow morning. I'll be taking the front, Mari will take the rear and you, with some kind of experimental weapon, will be inbetwee and will take out the angel...Well, that's if things go well.", Rei explained.

"What do you mean by if things go well, Ayanami?" a worried Shinji asked.

"You never know. But i'll keep your ass alive for sure. I can't lose you and your parents certainly can't either", Rei explained.

"And Mari?", Shinji asked again

"Don't worry about her. All she'll be doing is protecting the rear. You and me will be doing all the hefty work. She'll be safe. She's too damn strongheaded to die.", Rei explained in a slightly cheeky, yet confident way.

"What about you? Are you sure you will be okay? I was worried after you were taken out of Unit 00 during my first night here. You were in such a terrible state and I don't want to see that happen to you again.", Shinji concernly replied

All Rei did was remain silent and just let out a slight sigh. She then blinked, cocked her head towards Shinji, then simply replied "Okay, Shinji. I'll try and not get hurt this time...but trust me. It's not a 100% guarantee, especially in the battlefield.", Rei replied while reminding Shinji the sometimes harsh reality of battle. Rei then muttered some additional words to Shinji by tapping on his shoulder and telling him "Well, I gotta go. Your folks need me to get ready. See you later.", and then walked out of the room.

"AYANAMI! WAIT!!", Shinji yelled, yet he was too slow in screaming out to Rei, who had already walked out of the room to get ready. He then looked around and said to himself "Ayanami, I hope you're not crazy enough to get yourself killed. You...saved my life already."

* * *

Three Hours have passed. Misato managed to get the OK to use the Position Rifle. Unit 01 has a temporary chest plate and is set up in sniper mode. The other two EVAs are set up as well.

The battle location is set, the fifth angel is still slowly drilling its way down and the pilots are all ready for combat.

Yet before they get ready to fight, they all need to do is hear some additional mission briefing.

All three pilots, all dressed in their plug suits, are standing in front of their superior officer Misato Katsuragi, who is about to brief all three pilots.

------

"Alright. The mission here is to ensure to prevention of the angel reaching Central Dogma. Shinji will be using the position rifle to exterminate the angel, while Rei defends him in the front and Mari at the rear with their defensive equipment. All Shinji needs to do is it keep the crosshires near the core and fire once the rifle is ready.", Misato informed.

"And what if I missed?", Shinji asked, sounding very worried

"Don't think about the what ifs and only the inevitables, Shinji.", Misato replied back "Just concentrate on eliminating the target, just like in combat pratice"

"I understand", Shinji quietly replied

"Alright. That's good to hear. As for you girls, you got that clear?", Misato asked

"Affirmative.", both Rei and Mari replied simultaneously.

"Good to hear. Now you three have at least 15 minutes to get in your EVAs and get in position. Now all I can say for you three is good luck and hope for the best.", Misato informed. After finishing what she said, Misato then walked away towards a spot of safety, leaving the three children to get in their EVAs to get ready.

* * *

Shinji, being the most concerned of the three, simply asked both girls "So you two will be okay?"

"Don't worry, Shinji. We got this in the arse, though we shouldn't piddle about too long.", Mari replied.

Rei, on the other hand, unusually remained silent, which made Shinji all the more concerned.

"Why is she all quiet?", Shinji asked

"Oh, don't worry about Ayanami. She's just a little nervous about getting back in the EVA after being out of commision for so long.", Mari smirked as she replied.

However, Rei broke her silence and said "Okay, lets do this!"

"Right!", Mari barked back, in which she followed Rei.

Shinji, who was being quiet for a little, then realized that the girls had went straight to their EVAs, started to run by screaming "Wait for me!"

And thus...the battle is about to go under way.

The first BIG angel fight all three current children are about to tackle and one Rei and Shinji especially will not forget.


	17. Chapter 16: Why Don't You Try Smiling?

**Chapter 16: Why Don't You Try Smiling?

* * *

**

All three children are together, dressed in their plug suits, on the loading bay to get into their EVAs.

However, since they got about 25 more minutes before engagement into combat, they are just sitting by the walkway that leads into them being able to enter their EVAs.

Interestingly enough, Shinji is easily the most talkative of the three at this certain moment.

------

"Ayanami. Why do you still want to pilot the EVA?", Shinji asked Rei in a calm, yet worrisome tone.

Rei then turned her head towards Shinji and replied "Truth is, Shinji. I feel that there's something inside it that I have somehow lost a long time ago. I...can't even explain it. Its like we have a bond with each other. A bond like no other."

Shinji then immediately replied "Well..interesting. For some reason, my EVA feels empty. Its like its hollow deep inside. Very hollow. Almost cold and unresponsive. Still, it seems like I got control of it, even if it feels empty inside."

Mari then spoke up in a rather perky tone, boasting "Well, me and my EVA feel rather close. In fact, even more so than my apartment room, my EVA makes me feel like i'm back at home in good ol' Blackpool."

"What do you mean by that, Makinami?", Shinji replied, asking Mari

"Well...I haven't told you two, but I guess I feel confident to do so now. My mum died when I was seven. Mum was a real kind soul. Pop, even today, still misses her. I miss her too, but everytime I get into Five, I feel like that mum is by my side. All the time.", Mari confessed, in which she started to tear in joy as she proudfully told her fellow EVA pilots it all.

"Gee, Mari. You should've told me when you were staying at my place that you lost your mother when you were a young child.", Rei replied with a fairly concerned and minorly upset tone to her voice.

"Nah. I felt it wasn't important. You both have your mum and pop, so that's all it matters. I can take care of myself while knowing mum isn't physically there to support me all the way", Mari replied. "After all, I still got pop. That's at least half as good as having both of my old folks alive."

Neither Rei or Shinji could quite find a way to reply to that, since Mari's explanation was a rather satisfying one. However, right before Rei could say something else, a nearby loudspeaker announced "All three children enter your Evangelions now. I repeat, all three children enter your Evangelions now."

"Looks like that's our cue", Mari chimed in "Time for some real action".

* * *

While Mari walked one way to her EVA, Rei walked another to her EVA. Shinji, in the middle of both, had to just walk straight up to enter his. However, he still felt worried for his fellow pilots. Especially Rei.

Even before he went inside his EVA, he just watched Rei make her into her EVA, oogling her body, in which the plug suit perfectly shows up her desirable, oogle-worthy body. However, before he knew it, she already had entered her EVA, thus indicating that now he has to get in his own and focus on the mission.

The mission being to eradicate the fifth angel, Ramiel.

The Death Diamond in the Sky.

* * *

Rei sat in her cockpit, quietly.

Its been a little over a month since she's been in here and piloted it.

She lifted her right arm, which had been previously busted up badly due to her strong connectivity with her EVA during her fight with the third angel, which had broke the EVA's own arm, leading her own arm to subsequently get broken too, due to the previously stated high connectivity/synch ratio. Even though she is all healed up now, she still feels a bit unnerved, but also very anxious, since not only she's in her EVA again, but she's also going to participate in an angel fight.

As she flexes her right arm, a monitor screen pops open, showing Misato's face. Misato then asks Rei "Rei...you're alright?"

"Yeah. Just feels a bit odd to be back in here. I've been both urging and dreading this moment at the same time.", Rei replied in a fairly unsure, mellow tone.

"Well...anyways, just remember. Your priority is to shield Shinji from any attack the angel delivers. He needs to get a clear shot to destroy it, while you and Mari provide back-up for him. Got it?", Misato informed and asked.

"Of course.", Rei calmfully replied.

"Good. Now, all I can hope is for you three to do us proud and stop the angel. We can't let it get to terminal dogman. I wish you all good luck.", Misato finished, in which she then logged off, leaving Rei to get into position.

Rei then told herself "Alright Ayanami. Get a hold of yourself. You need to keep Shinji-kun from getting blasted again. At least Mari has my back as well this time.". She told herself. She then reached for the controls and grasped them. She then made Zero pick up its destined shield and made it walk to its destination, which was below the surface Shinji and Unit 01 was positioned on.

She then took a good look and saw the diamond shape angel floating in the sky, with parts of it drilling its way through the underground.

"Okay Ayanami. Shinji-kun's got it clear. He just needs to focus and hit that damn diamond to end this tension. Just hope he can do it in one shot and not spaz out", she told herself.

* * *

However, she then saw what appeared to be a large grenade flying in the air, ultimately landing near the angel.

Yet a massive yell came from the inner intercom.

------

"Mari! What the hell were you thinking!", Misato's voice screamed out of the intercom.

"Well...heh...we need to distract it before Shinji makes his move", Mari explained in a snarky tone

"But your dumb-ass has now compromised the mission, Makinami.", Misato shot back. Both voices can be heard through the intercom, which is how Rei is able to hear it all.

"Don't worry, Katsuragi. She's doing the right thing", Yui replies, in which her voice can faintly be heard. Misato then snorted, followed by grunting a little and said "Okay...fine."

The grenade then set off, doing virtually nothing to the angel, yet it was enough for Shinji to get his chance to fire the position rifle at it.

"Fire now!", Yui ordered her son via the intercom.

All of a sudden, a massive surge of light filled the area and BLAM!!! A large ray of light flew straight towards the angel, hitting it.

At first, it cracked a little, letting out a piercing scream, but then it fixed itself.

"Shit! It didn't penetrate the core!", Misato welped

"It what?!?", Shinji screamed.

"Oh no. Shinji-kun. You didn't do it in one shot.", Rei exhaled, in which she then slowly slumped in her cockpit, expressing a massive frown on her face. However, she then took a glance at the death diamond and saw that it reconfigured itself into a far more abstract shape and was charging up its particle beam, getting repeat to hit Unit 01 again like before.

"I can't let it hit Shinji-kun. If I get into its crosshires and shield the blast, it'll both distract it and buy Shinji enough time to shoot the position rifle again, hopefully destroying the angel this time", Rei told herself with much vigor and determinaton in her voice.

She then made Zero lift up its shield and in a split-second, ran right towards the diamond, so she could get the beam to not get too close to Shinji.

* * *

About a second after she did that, the angel's particle beam then hit Unit 00's shield. Yet, to Rei's surprise, the beam was far stronger than she could have imagined. At first, it seemed to be working, but then, the beam started to disintegrate the shield, eventually starting to hit Unit 00 as well.

Shockingly enough, the armor on Unit 00 was far stronger than most predicted, but it started to melt, which Rei feeling the pain.

------

"MUST...PROTECT....SHINJI-KUN!", Rei grunted, gritting her teeth together as the pain intensified.

30 seconds in, the shield finally become nothing and the beam hit Unit 00, full blast.

The pain crept up and Rei, despite feeling the agony, went into a "Resist the pain" type of zen thinking, but before the beam could get a chance to flat out destroy Rei and Unit 00, another blinding flash flew by, hitting the angel again.

This time, the position bolt successfully penetrated the angel's core, resulting in a fairly humorous looking blaze of fire blow out of the angel's rear side. its ear-bleeding screams intensified as it then fell to the ground like a burning airplane about to crash into a residential era.

But at the same time, Unit 00 fell down like a boxer down for the count.

* * *

"AYANAMI!!", Shinji screamed in horror as he saw Unit 00, on the ground, with its armor in a fairly horrible, melted state.

"Oh no....oh shit.", Mari whispered.

Shinji then made Unit 01 run up to Unit 00, made it take out its progressive knife, carefully cut into Unit 00 and ripped out its entry plug, carefully setting it to the ground.

Shinji then exited out of his cockpit, made his way out of the EVA and ran up to Rei's entry plug.

With the entry plug door firmly shut, Shinji then attempted to try and open it, but it was burning hot. Despite burning his hands, he had to get Rei out of there. She had saved his ass back when Sachiel was out there and now its time for him to follow suit.

Burning his hands in the process, Shinji successfully opened the door to Rei's entry plug and got inside.

"Rei! Rei!", Shinji yelled out in a deeply concerned tone. He saw her there, but she did not respond...at first.

"Rei, please answer me! Rei!!", Shinji yelled again.

However, Rei then lifted her head and Shinji a deeply panicked Shinji staring at her. His face then went from being very worried to extremely happy and tearful.

"You're alive!", Shinji cried out. "I thought you were a goner."

"Did....did we win?", Rei asked. "Did we destroy that damn diamond?"

"Yes Rei. The angel is eliminated...but why did you risk your life to save mine...again?", Shinji asked.

"For one...I don't want to see you die...and two, they were my orders.", Rei explained.

Shinji then walked closer to Rei, breathing heavily and replied "Please Rei...I just...just don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Thing is, Shinji. I don't want to see you get hurt either but hey...at least this didn't felt as bad as the other time", Rei replied, even letting out a slight chuckle. "Yeah, I feel a little dizzy, but other than that, I feel alright. Especially with that friggin' angel eliminated."

However, Shinji then started to smile at Rei, in which he then said "Well...whenever we go into battle again..."

"What is it?", Rei asked Shinji

"...can you please smile like you do everywhere else?", Shinji asked with a very honest tone to his voice.

Rei, knowing that the boy she has saved twice, wanted to meet for quite a few years and even has a bit of a liking of, then started to twist her mouth into a very angelic, beautiful smile. Yet, that wasn't enough for her.

She then reached her arms out to Shinji, in which he knew what she wanted, and the two embraced each other, hugging.

"Don't even try to say goodbye to me ever again like that", Shinji cried out in joy with tears spilling out of his eyes

"I promise...Shinji-kun.", Rei calmfully replied. She also began to tear up.

* * *

However, the third EVA pilot Mari, who was also worried about her fellow pilot, walked up to the entryway to Rei's entry plug, said "I hope everything's alright in here...", looked inside and saw both Rei and Shinji hugging each other.

Half not-surprised, yet half-surprised by this intimate moment, Mari then quipped to herself "Well shit. I need to find a way to tell Kensuke-kun how I feel. If I keep on lagging this badly, Shinji and Rei will be going out. Oh well...at least she's not badly hurt like before."

Not wanting to interrupt the moment, Mari smiled, then walked away from Rei's entry plug to leave both Shinji and Rei alone.

* * *

Shortly after Mari walked away, Rei then asked Shinji "Hey Shinji?"

"What is it Ayanami?", Shinji replied

"Is it alright if I stay at your place tonight?"


	18. Chapter 17: A Night at Misato

**Chapter 17: A Night at Misato's

* * *

**

"Misato. Ummmm...I have a question to ask you?", A slightly nervous sounding, yet grinning Shinji asked Misato. Both are in a hallway within Nerv HQ.

------

The Fifth Angel Ramiel had been neutralized about 50 minutes earlier.

Unit 01 is in good condition.

Same goes for Unit 05.

However, Unit 00 is in need for some repairs and such, thus once again, Rei is out of commission.

This time because of the damage Zero received, not Rei herself receiving any injuries.

------

"What is it, Shinji?", Misato asked in response, not necessarily getting at what Shinji is hinting of. She then started to lean towards the wall with one arm and had her other hand over her chin.

"Can Ayanami stay at our place overnight?", Shinji cautiously asked Misato while putting on a massively nervous grin on his face. He also scratched the back of his neck as he told Misato his question.

Misato shifted her eyes in both directions, rubbed her chin, leaned in closer to Shinji, took one look to the left, then another look to the right, then focused back on Shinji, twisted her lips into a smiile and replied "Sure! It would be fun to have a guest overnight!"

"Thanks Misato.", Shinji replied and bowed. "I'll go tell Ayanami myself."

"Alright. I'll be waiting right here for the both oif you.", Misato replied

* * *

Shinji, with a big grin on his face, ran into the changing room to see Rei, only wearing a white bra, her shoes and her jeans, sitting on a bench. Apparently, he had caught her almost completely dressed into her street clothes, sans her Slayer T-Shirt.

She then becomes alert as she hears the rushing footsteps and panting that is accompaning Shinji.

------

"Ayanami!", Shinji yelled

"Yeah, Ikari-kun?", Rei asked in response "So is its fine or not for me to stay the night?". Her eyes are wide open and her face is showing a real innocent sense of concern, especially if her request was denied by her superior.

However, to her pleasure, Shinji broke the news by replying "Misato gave me the A-OK. You can come over and stay the night!"

All Rei could do was smile a big smile.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, both Shinji and Rei emerged from the changing room.

Rei has put her shirt on before leaving, as well as her leather jacket. She also has her bag of belongings that she brought that doesn't really contain that much, though keep note of that plastic bag within the bag that contains that mysterious CD she bought earlier and has refused to reveal what it is to anyone else.

Shinji himself just had his backpack with him.

Both children then walked up to Misato, in which she then asked them "You two ready?'

Both Shinji and Rei nodded and smiled in a happy, excited matter.

"Good..let's go!", Misato grinned as she replied and gave a thumb up.

With Misato taking the lead, both Shinji and Rei left HQ, which had suddenly caught a minor breeze, due to the holes that Ramiel made in its aborted drilling quest. Also, some debris was present in some places. However, this damage will be quickly delt with, so its no big problem.

* * *

Inside the car (Which was driving through a dusk filled night, with the power to each individual home slowly coming back on, as well as some traces of damaged, wrecked JSSDF vehicles lumbering around), Misato, who's driving is a bit shakier than usual, asked Rei "So..looks like you're out of comission again, though you yourself ain't the problem."

Rei quickly replied "Well...at least that's the case. I wouldn't want to go through that pain and garbage again", showing a bit of relief in her tone

"Thing is, Ayanami, You really scared me.", Shinji responded back "I thought the angel killed you after you and Zero ate its blast." A bit of a cry and whine emmited from his tone and wording.

Rei then cocked her head towards Shinji and replied back "Yeah. I was scared of myself too when I did that, but its my job to..ahem...save your cu...errr...rear." She then blushed a little after realizing that she almost said "Cute ass", in which she didn't do so in sake of not being too obvious in her attraction to Shinji and especially being too soon to totally reveal it. She then asked Misato "Speaking of stuff...is my EVA going to be working again?"

Misato then immediately replied "According to Commander and Mrs. Ikari, Zero will be...upgraded as its repaired. However, they sternly told me to not tell all to you, Rei."

"Sounds snazzy and so mysteriously cool.", Rei smirked. "So how much longer till we're there?"

"Not much longer.", Misato quickly replied. This time, her car passed by what appeared to be the homeless guy Toji and Kensuke talked to scavenging some trash cans for some food, as well as a dead, bloodied Shiba Inu next to said can. As Misato's car passed by, the homeless guy took a dive towards the alleyway to prevent being caught, yet she obviously was too involved with talking to Rei and Shinji, as well as her own driving to pay attention.

"Still...I wish we get to do another mission again", Shinj lamented to Rei, yet Misato quickly replied "Don't worry, as I told Rei herself, your parents are going to fix Zero. I just can't tell you what they're going to do"

"Okay", Shinji replied as he nodded. Rei then patted hin on the back and said "Don't worry, we're still a team, my EVA just need some fixing as Misato says"

Before Shinji could even reply, the car stopped and Misato boastfully announced "We're Here!"

* * *

She had parked her car in the apartment complex's parking lot, though keep in mind that her apartment room is close by (Despite requiring to use the stairs to get there). With that said, Misato, Rei and Shinji are walking up to the stairs and when they finally arrive at the apartment room, Misato joyfully blurts "Alright Rei. This is me and Shinji's place. It may not seem like much, but having a home is what counts."

"Yeah. Even my apartment room is a bit dank, but it does the job", Rei replied back.

"Anyways, you two. Let's get inside.", Misato cheekily announced and as she opened the apartment room door, Rei suddenly noted the fairly messy, unkempt look of the apartment room, which is especially littered with beer cans.

"Oh wow.", Rei muttered as her eyes bugged out. However, Shinji then whispered to her "Well, you should have seen it when I first moved into here.", with Rei whispering back "I can imagine"

Rei then realized that she forgot to take a shower back at HQ, in which she then subsequently asks Misato "Ummm...I didn't get to take a shower at HQ. Can I use your shower?"

"Yeah..go ahead. I'll whip up some food for ya in the meantime", Misato informed."Oh, and the bathroom is on the right over there."

"Okay, gotcha", Rei nodded, in which she then made her way to the bathroom door.

However, with Rei out of sight, Shinji then asked Misato "Did you tell her about...", in which she replied back in a very cheeky tone "Oh I don't think she'll mind meeting our third roomie."

* * *

Inside the bathroom, Rei, who is now stripped down to her birthday suit, notices something odd in the actual shower room.

Steam is creaking its way through it.

------

"Huh?", Rei confusingly muttered to herself. But then she figured "I guess Misato was cool enough to get it ready for me, so there shouldn't be much to expect on the other side", so she opened the actual shower door and...

What appears to be a penguin shaking itself, due to being wet, scares the hell out of Rei, causing her to scream out "GHHHYAHHHH!!!!" and to dart out of the bathroom, only to find herself standing in front on Misato and Shinji, exposing her naked body to 'em both (Though a beer can seems to be obscuring her naughty bits")

"WHA...WHA...WHA...WHATTHEHELLWASTHAT!?!?", Rei screamed out, panting and her body's chest heaving in and out as she panted.

"Uhhh what?", Miasto asked in a half worried, half shit eating tone. Shinji didn't reply.

"A penguin. A FRIGGIN' PENGUIN!!", Rei screamed out in irritation.

"Oh, you mean Pen Pen.", Misato chuckled in response.

"Um...what's a Pen Pen?", Rei asked. Her tone went from being angry to very puzzled by Misato muttering that name.

"You mean he. Pen Pen is a warm water penguin. Before Shinji moved in, it was just the two of us.", Misaton confirmed. In the background, Pen Pen can be seen, opening a small door that leads to his own living space. Rei just kept paying attention to what Pen Pen was doing but once he was gone, she then turned her attention towards Misato and Shinji.

Interestingly enough, Shinji has remained silent through all of this.

Misato then picks up her can of beer, which then reveals a soda can with a straw in it. With this said, the drinking part of the straw is obscuring Rei's breasts, while the can itself is obscuring her bottom half.

It was at this moment that Rei finally realized that she's been exposing her naked body to Shinji...again.

Embarrased, Rei then tip toed her way back into the bathroom to take a shower like originally planned.

* * *

About 17 minutes later, Rei emerges from the shower, with her hair being a little damp, as well as her skin, but at least she's wearing her clothes now.

When Misato catches sight of Rei, she then gleefully announces to her "The food is ready. Dig in!", and hands her a bowl of some ramen.

Rei takes a whiff of the ramen's odor and says "Mmmm...smells good."

She then sits down and grabs some ramen with her chopsticks, takes a bite and...her eye bug out at the fact that as good as the ramen smells, the taste is not.

"My god, this is shit.", Rei tells herself. She did not blurt her opinion out loud so she won't make Misato upset, so being the trooper she is, she eats the rest of the ramen, much to her displeasure.

After finishing up her bowl of rancid tasting ramen, Rei put her bowl into the sink, then walked to a corner in which Shinji then approached and told her "Ayanami. Let's go to my room and talk a little."

"Sure thing. Anything that'll be better than eating that garbage ramen.", Rei replied, though she whispered her ramen complaint.

* * *

Inside Shinji's room (Which is rather barren compared to the rest of the apartment room and especially compared to Rei's apartment), Rei asks Shinji "So basically that little shower event happened to ya before as well?"

"Yeah", Shinji lightly chuckled "Well, at least mom still calls me everyday. I just wished father would take the time to talk". His voice went from being a bit sunny to being a bit gloomy.

"Oh, I don't think your dad hates you or anything", Rei replied. "Unlike your mother, the Commander, your dad, seems to be really busy."

"Except that has been what mom keeps telling me. That he's always busy.", Shinji shrugs.

"Well...maybe, just maybe you should try and talk to him sometime?", Rei replied, trying to give Shinji some confidence to speak to his father.

Shinji pondered, shifted his eyes left and right, then before he could reply, Misato barged in asked Rei in her typically boastful tone "So where you want to sleep tonight? I got a spare room."

"I can just sleep on the floor in here.", Rei replied

"Yeah. Rei can sleep in my room. I don't mind.", Shinji added.

Misato pondered this for a couple seconds, then replied "O-KAY! But you need some pajamas, right?"

"Yeah.", Rei responded.

However, Misato then tossed Rei a pink T-Shirt and light gray sweatpants while replying "Here you go. Sleep tight, both of you." and shut the door behind her.

* * *

With just Rei and Shinji in the room, Rei asked Shinji "Can ya look away for a minute. I need to change."

"Okay, Ayanami.", Shinji replied

* * *

Exactly a minute later, Rei had changed into her pajamas and had a makeshift sleeping space made on the floor.

However, she then griped "Pink kinda sucks...but it'll do."

Shinji then told Rei "I'm turning the light off. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Shinji.", Rei replied back and then the lights went off, in which Shinji played his walkmen and Rei layed in her makeshift bed.

* * *

Rei then pulled that black plastic bag out of her carrying bag and opened it, taking out the CD she bought.

While we can't really see what it is, Rei tells herself "I'll listen to it tomorrow...when i'm in my own place."

She then sets the bag, CD and such back to how they were, sets the bag aside and goes to sleep.

Entering the land of 40 winks...and something else....


	19. Chapter 18: Leaders Reap Followers

**Chapter 18: Leaders Reap Followers**

* * *

_"December 25th, 2014. I arrived in Tokyo 3. I became an EVA pilot"_

_"January 1st, 2015. I met Shinji, but also suffered master injuries that kept me from piloting."_

_"Five Hours ago, I, Shinji and Mari all took on the Fifth Angel. We managed to stop it, but my EVA was damaged in the process."_

_"Right now, i'm here...in the deep blue sea. My naked body floats in it, upside down, in the most dreamlike way possible"_

These are the words of Rei Ayanami. The First Child.

Here she is, in who knows where, in a place that is not in reality, but rooted in the beyond.

_"20 Days Later, I see a river a dead bodies, all rotted and reeking of a stench that makes my eyes water."_

_"10 Days Earlier, I stand here, naked, witnessing the wall bleeding. I have no clue why its bleeding, but at the same time, I see two men in biohazard gear, weilding hand grenades. They step back, close to me, so close to me, that I get knocked down to the floor. They then toss the grenades at the wall and once the explode, it causes the entire place to shatter into the dark, wide void of pure black."_

_"A Month later, I sit in a hospital bed. In front of me is me as well, but rather than how I usually am, this version of me has a look of pure sorrow and desolation. I ask her 'Hey! You sure look a lot like me. Are you doing fine?'. The other me, who has bandages and the cast like how I did after I got royally screwed up in the fight with the Third Angel then mutters 'I do not see how this meeting between us is theoretically possible. Either that, or you're the forth and will take my place after I go". Weird, she called me the forth, but before I could respond any further, the black void sucks up this reality as well"_

_"Two Months Later, I sit on a glass couch, nude, in a room made out of a dark blue marble. I stand up and walk to a glass table and pick up a newspaper. I look through it, sitting down on the cold floor."_

_"Three Months Later, I walk through a steel floor in space, witnessing what looks like a giant version of me, except completely white, losing its head for unknown reasons"_

_"Forth Months Later, I find myself sleeping in a bed. However, I feel someone's hand reach out for me. It's Shinji-kun's hand. We then do it. Yes, do it in the most passionate way possible."_

_"Five Months Later, I, alone, revist the sea of corpses. Now it's just a sea of bones, insects and maggots. Gross stuff."_

_"Six Months Later, I find myself standing on the severed head of the giant white version of me with wings. It was found in a street that's completely in black and white."_

_"Seven Months Later, I am back in the dark blue marble room with glass furniture. The newspaper is now burnt and I see a charred corpse laying on the glass couch, with disembodied organs laying on the glass table, all with blood dripping to the floor._

_"Eight Months Later, I am floating in darkness. Pure darkness. The Black Void I once feared to venture into."_

_"The following forth months become too unfocused and hazy. I have no clue what is becoming of me anymore. I need help."_

_"A Year Later, It is time. The time is ready. All I need to do is close my eyes. Close them to reassure the oblivion that awaits me"_

When she opens her eyes again...she's back in her makeshift bed in Shinji's room.

As well as that the dream had also made her break a sweat. She didn't scream this time waking up, just panting and all sweaty (Or maybe she's wet from being underwater in the dream, but that's highly unlikely).

* * *

_**Elsewhere...**_

A phone is ringing nonstop in a darken, modest looking bedroom.

A tanned hand, accompanied by a sleepy groan, slams down on the phone and lifts it off its platform.

"5 o' clock in the fuckin' morning? shit. what do they want now?", the voice of a man in his mid to late 20s balks out to himself. It seems that this phone had awakened him.

The man then puts the phone close to him to hear who it is.

"Hello?"

"Yo Shiro baby. Get your ass down to the office. The Big Cheese has an announcement he claims is bigger than Manuel Uribe and Gojira combined. So he needs all of our dicks and cunts down there pronto.", the man on the other line cheekily and sleazily responds.

"Really? Okay, i'll be there. Just give me ten minutes for fuck's sake", the man, presumably Shiro, replied.

"Cool. But you better not dilly dally, or The Big Cheese will cut your balls off if you're late", the guy on the other line replied, then hung up.

"Dick", Shiro muttered to himself. "Oh jeez. I better get my ass ready and not be late or they'll bust my balls for doing so."

* * *

_**Back at Misato's**_

At the table in the main room, we see Rei, Shinji, Misato and Pen-Pen all sitting by the table.

"Ayanami, you seemed a bit shakened up this morning. Anything wrong?", Shinji asked Rei as he glanced at her with some kitchen impliments in hand and a bowl in the center.

Rei shifted her eyes towards Shinji, cocked her head towards his direction, then replied "Well, Shinji...I just had a rough night."

Shinji and Misato's eyes then bulged open and paused their activities as they stared at Rei with a somewhat cartoonish stare. Even Pen-Pen subsequently did what his fellow roomies did as well.

However, Rei broke the uncomfortable silence by replying "Oh, i'm okay. Just the good ol' 'not used to sleeping in a different room' feeling. Felt the same when I first slept in my apartment room."

"Ohhhh. I get it. I felt the same way too when I first moved into here", Misato chuckled after hearing Rei's reply.

Shinji simply nods along as well, while Pen-Pen resumes chowing down his grub.

Rei then smiles a warm, angelic smile, in which Shinji smiles back, leading Rei to chuckle a little.

They then began to resume eating their breakfast, up until Misato then noticed the time, reminding Shinji and Rei "Well, you guys can't forget about school, so you two gotta get ready, because I and the others need to get working on cleaning up the mess left over from last night."

Both Rei and Shinji nodded, but as they walked towards their respective places to get ready, Misato then informed to Rei "Oh Rei...someone managed to stop by your apartment room and picked this off to drop it off here for you."

Rei stopped, turned towards Misato and just looked at her, being prepared to receive what Misato is about to toss her.

"CATCH!", Misato shouted out as she tossed a plastic bag to Rei, in which she was able to successfully catch the bag.

"Okay...thanks.", Rei immediately replied, not being sure if she should be excited or bemused to receive this bag. She then resumed walking to the bathroom (Shinji's getting dressed in his room) to get changed, and as she shut the sheet and took a peak inside the bag, only for it to show that her standard issue female school uniform is inside it.

Rei then groans "Ugh", and subsequently sighs as she undresses to get into the uniform.

* * *

_**Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise, HQ**_

Inside, we see a bunch of businessmen, including Shiro Tokita, all sitting by a long table in fold out chairs, all overlooking their boss, only referred to as "The Big Cheese".

"First off, bitches, I brought all here just to inform you all that tomorrow, we shall show off our masterpiece to the whole world and show that Nerv is not alone in making giant ass kicking robots.", The Big Cheese informed his workers.

They all nodded and chatted a little, but then The Big Cheese pointed his finger at Shiro and informed him "Shiro, baby. I want Jet Alone to shine! So I can rake in the big bucks and get a million blowjobs.", with a truly heinou shit eating grin.

Shiro then raised his hands up, then muttered to himself "Okay then.", right before he stood up and made his way to The Big Cheese.

As he stood in front of his peers and by his boss's side, Shiro just nervously chuckled and replied "Sure. We can forge Jet Alone to show that...nuclear powered mechs are far more capable of getting the...job done than Nerv's skinny wimps.", in a somewhat half-hearted tone

"Very much indeed, Shiro. In fact...I have a conference set up for you tomorrow, while the actual test run will be the following day.", The Big Cheese replied

Shiro then asked The Big Cheese "So are we good workers going to get the recognition we so long deserve or are you just going to rake in the riches you keep robbing us for your cock oil again as usual?", in a very irritated, agitated, angry tone.

However, The Bif Cheese then began to laugh in Shiro's face, replied "Absofuckinglutely not, Shiro, baby. I need you sluts to do the work for me so I can take all the credit and get my balls greased", and grinned a demonic smile after finished his vicious, snide filled revelation, which made all of the other members of the corporation get angry and upset looks on their faces.

Shiro then let out a sarcastic laugh, then chuckled at The Big Cheese "You know, boss?", then suddenly screams out, "FUCK YOU, THE HORSE YOU RIDE ON AND THE STICK UP YOUR ASS!", then proceeds to pull out a 9mm, aims it directly at The Big Cheese's head and pulls the trigger, causing a rupture of blood, brain matter and bone fragments to erupt from The Big Cheese's head, splattering onto a wall and the floor.

After The Big Cheese's corpse landed flat on the floor, Shiro's fellow coworkers all started to hoot, clap and shout in joy in response to that Shiro had killed their oppresive tyrant of a boss. Shiro himself then jumped, while raising his fist in the air, grinning, and shouted something, making his pose resemble something straight out of a fighting game win taunt.

"Shiro...Shiro...Shiro, baby. So you're going to represent our corporation at the conference tomorrow?", The Big Cheese asked Shiro, who was still sitting in his fold out chair by the table.

It turns out that Shiro just thought up the whole killing of his boss in his head.

"Yes, boss. I'll be there at the conference.", Shiro nodded in response.

"Good...now show 'em all that Nerv is now not alone", The Big Cheese replied with a grin

"I sure will", Shiro yawned out in response.

* * *

"So Ayanami...be honest with me? What happened last night?", Shinji asked Rei in a concerned tone.

Both of them are walking their way towards school and its a bright and cool day. They have their bags for school with them as well (Rei's bag in particular contains her belongigs she had with her since yesterday).

"Well...I just had a bad dream. A weird one, indeed, but nothing to get worried about. In fact, I barely remember it as of now.", Rei responded with a warm smile.

However, they then saw a rather strange sight in front of them.

A caucasian girl that appears to be 16 or 17, has purple and blonde hair, has a t-shirt of some anime, tight jeans, fancy looking Nike Kicks, black, supervillainesque vinyl gloves and a black vinyl cape, is standing by a cameraman (presumably her own) and talking in front of it.

"Anata wa, jōi wakaru yō ni. Nippon de wa, wareware wa ōku no... Ā mite, jimoto no hitobito ga!", the girl tells in front of the camera, speaking in a fairly butchered form of Japanese, but then spots Rei and Shinji standing by her.

"Ummm...jee wiz. Her Japanese is terrible", Shinji whispered to Rei with his eyes bugging out in shock.

"Yeah, no shit, Shinjilock", Rei whispered back. However, realizing the pure idiocy of her pun, she then quickly replies back "Sorry, that one was bad, real bad.", while patting Shinji on the back.

"That's okay, i'm not good at making puns either", Shinji chuckles back, which causes Rei to laugh in response.

The caucasian girl then walks up to Shinji and Rei to introduce herself to them.

"O ni-nin ni go aisatsu, jimoto no hitobito. Watashi no namae wa Kristina Hoffle desuga, anata wa watashi no intānetto no namae DesuLoli yori yoi watashi o shitte iru kanō-sei ga ari masu. Watashi wa anime no intānetto hyōron-ka, Nippon no ōku no hoka no keitai no entāteimento desu!", DesuLoli tells Rei and Shinji in her messy, horrific attempt at talking in Japanese. She then reachers out her right hand to shake both Shinji and Rei's hands.

Rei then mutters "Can't you just speak in your own language. You're totally making a complete mockery of the Japanese language, DesuLoli."

"Hurmh!", DesuLoli snorted. "You know what, Ms. Blue Hair? For someone that is criticizing my attempt to speak your beautiful language, you sure as goddamn hell look way more American than I do. In fact, are you just trying to fool me that YOU can speak Japanese far better than I, even though we both are American?"

Rei, looking quite pissed and annoyed, then replied "Seriously, DesuLoli. I and Shinji don't have the time to pick a fight with you. We both have to attend school and we certainly don't want to be late because of you.". She then grabbed Shinji by the arm and told him "Come on, Shinji-kun. I don't want to deal with this coco puff right now.", and walked away.

After Rei and Shinji were out of DesuLoli's sight, she then muttered "Well..I guess we gotta...go to school, eh?"

Her cameraman then asked DesuLoli "Come on, Kristina. Of all of the great things we can do here, you want to make the life of a oddly caucasian looking local miserable?", in a "you gotta be shitting me?" tone.

DesuLoli then grinned, clutching her right hand firmly and told him "Yes, Jarvis. I wanna make that blue haired bitch's life a fucking nightmare!". However, she then muttered "Oh, that's right", cleared her throat, clutched her right hand even harder and firmer than before, grinned a develish smile and said in a menacing tone "Hai, Jarvis. Watashi wa aoi kami no on'na no jinsei kuso no akumu o tsukuri tai!"

* * *

Inside what appears to be a van for Nerv's quarantine team, we see Misato and Ritsuko, both donning hazmat suits and surrounded by others, talking to each other.

"Well...so the two left for school?", Ritsuko asked Misato

"Yeah...and Rei received her school uniform. Thanks for picking it up for me for her.", Misato thanked Ritsuko "But..how did you get into her apartment room without her key?"

"We have spares, so I was able to get in thanks to that.", Ritsuko replied

"Whoa...I hope you don't inform that to her. She wouldn't like to hear that someone can just prance their way into her room against her will, especially an official with a spare key", Misato replied in a worried tone

'Well, tough shit for her. If she's dosing off and she's needed at HQ, then we can get her over there immediately. That alone is one of the main reasons for the spares.", Ritsuko informed Misato.

"Ah...that makes more sense.", Misato nodded in response, quickly dropping her worried tone.

All of a sudden, they felt the vehicle immediately stop, in which Ritsuko subsequently replied "That's our cue. Time to check out our dead angel friend"

The back doors then opened up, in which the clean up crew, including Misato and Ritsuko, headed their way to where Ramiel's corpse landed after being killed off by Unit 01 last night.

However, when they actually reached there, Ritsuko screamed out "GOD DAMMIT! NOT AGAIN!", and stomped on the ground.

"Oh boy", Misato replied in a deadpan tone in response.

"WHY DO MOST OF THE GODDAMN ANGELS WE EXTERMINATE SUDDENLY VANISH THE FOLLOW DAY!", Ritsuko continued to vent while cartoonishly stomping and kicking around the area in anger.

"Yeah, this is weird. Corpses don't walk away on their own and we sure don't have a zombie problem either", Misato replied in a far more sedated tone.

However, Ritsuko stomped her way towards Misato, grabbed her by her suit and growled to her "Except this is the SECOND FUCKING TIME this had happened!"

"But even the forth angel vanished after we took its core for some reason", Misato reminded Ritsuko.

However, this totally made Ritsuko snap even further, with her screaming at Misato "YOU MEAN THAT THE FORTH ANGEL"S BODY DISAPPEARED ANYWAYS!"

Yeah...that's what Yui told me from what I remember.", Misato replied back in response.

"URGH!", Ritsuko growled as she stomped away, mumbling to herself.

"Boy, this is going to be a long day.", Misato groaned, knowing that her friend is on the warpath over the vanishing dead angels.

* * *

Both Rei and Shinji had finally arrived at school, but were immediately greeted by Toji, of all people.

"Hey Rei! Hey Shinji!", Toji, who apparently had just ran towards then after he spotted them making their way towards the classrom. "You guys gotta see this. Its crazy!"

'What do you mean crazy, Toji?", Rei asked Toji, completely unsure of what Toji could be hinting of

"Just...come to class. You'll find out", Toji immediately replied, in which after saying so, he, Rei and Shinji all ran to the classroom.

After they opened the door, they see all of the students, except Mari (Hikari is a no-show so far), all surrounding, of all people, DesuLoli, who somehow had found their classroom.

"You gotta be kidding me?", Rei whined as she saw DesuLoli in class.

However...Kensuke, who despite oogling at DesuLoli, ran up towards Rei and whispered "She may be dreamy, but she ain't got anything on Mari."

"Yeah", Rei responded.

However, DesuLoli caught Rei's sight, then shouted out at her "Oh there you are, Little Mss Blue Hair. I just asked some other kids where you and your boyfriend go to school at and look! Here I am"

Rei then shouted back "Uhhhh...me and Shinji are just friends. Second..you're really starting to be a total stalker freak right now."

DesuLoli, taken a bit back by what Rei told her, then said "Oh seriously, Ol' Blue Hair, you're the one that criticized me that I speak poor Japanese when you look so out of place yourself in Japan."

However, everyone totally stopped oogling at DesuLoli in mere seconds, with Mari then standing up and qupping "Ooooh, look who's talking? First off, is your hair really purple and blonde?"

DesuLoli, who had a look of nervousness and bluff, shifted her eyes left and right and twinkled her fingers together, then replied "Ummm...actually, i'm a natural brunette. I just dye my hair like this", with her cheeks turning pink. However, she then quickly snapped back "But what about Ol' Blue Hair's hair color? It's obvious she dyes it too..right?"

However, everyone simultaneously replied "Her hair is naturally blue. Just ask Rei herself."

DesuLoli, completely stunned by the reply, then wheezed out "....really?"

"Yeah, Desu. My hair has always been blue and always will be.", Rei replied herself.

However, the class room door slammed open and someone screamed out "YOU'RE NOT A PART OF THIS CLASSROOM!"

Mari then sarcastically replied "Uh oh, Desu. Class Rep. has caught you. BUSTED!", and grinned after saying those words

"Uhhh....", DesuLoli then replied in a 100% nervous tone, looked at her cameraman, then told him "Ummm...yeah. We gotta go or we'll get our asses kicked.". She and her cameraman walked towards the door, with DesuLoli pointing her finger at Rei and informing her in a very hammy tone "Jikai wa, ōrudoburūhea. Jikai!" and left.

* * *

With DesuLoli gone, Kensuke then quipped "Yeah, her Japanese totally sucks."

"Yeah. She's a nasty piece of work. Even my Japanese is way better than that.", Mari replied.

However, Hikari then yelled at her classmates "NOW, YOU ALL! CLASS IS STARTING NOW, SO SHUT UP!"

"Yes, class rep", the other classmates moaned in response, all at the same time.

"Thank you.", Hikari grinned, then skipped to her seat to sit into it.

Mari then took a look at Rei and asked her "So...how did it go?"

"Well...it was..", Rei began to explain to Mari in her usually calm tone.

However, Hikari then snapped at Rei, telling her "You two please talk about AFTER class! OKAY?"

"Okay...sorry.", Rei apologized and slumped into her seat. She then began to ponder "Why does that DesuLoli gal have such a stick up her ass?"

* * *

"Gee Wiz, Kristina. Your attitude can sure get our asses in hot water", Jarvis informed DesuLoli, who are now somewhere not too far away from the school, but hidden in its view.

However, DesuLoli then told Jarvis "I got an idea!", pointing her right index finger in the air.

"What kind of brilliant idea you have, Kristina?", Jarvis asked DesuLoli, being quite unsure of what so-called "brilliant plan" she has up her sleeves.

"I will try and get enrolled into Class 2-A!", DesuLoli shouts at Jarvis, striking a pose.

"Oh great. I wonder how well that will go?", Jarvis asks DesuLoli "Especially considering that you DO NOT live in Japan"

"Actually, I got a friend who lives locally, so when you go home, i'll live with her for a month or two to succeed my plan to screw with Ol' Blue Hair", DesuLoli grinned.

Oh what the hell, Kristina? Why did you not tell me that BEFORE I decided to tag along for this trip?", Jarvis screamed at DesuLoli in irriatation over this revelation.

DesuLoli then plans her hands on Jarvis' shoulders and tells him "Don't worry, Jarvis ol' buddy. and I go way back. I'll do just fine living with her for these few months I plan to stay. No need to worry", patting him on the back in the process.

"Okay, okay, Kristina. I'll buy your shit for now. Just please..don't let some Yakuza bastard get his filthy hands on your lovely body and taint it. Okay? Just for me, please?", Jarvis begged, with his hands clamped together in a prayer-like matter.

"Uhhh...fine. I won't let any other boy, no matter how sexy they are, have a piece of my ass. kay?", DesuLoli replied.

"Good. Nice to hear that", Jarvis replied, subsequently hugging DesuLoli, resulting them slightly embracing each other.

They then stepped back from each other, with DesuLoli announcing "Now I need to get enrolled into that class...PRONTO!", and the two ran back to the school.

* * *

"So....Ms. Hoffle, you want to enroll into our school, right?", the Principle of the school asked DesuLoli. She and Jarvi and in the Principle's office of the school, which sported poor lighting, a worn out ceiling fan, a few cracks in the wall and the infamous "old people" smell lurking in it.

"Correct.", DesuLoli nodded in response.

"And it seems that Class 2-A in particular is the class you requested to enroll in, correct?", The Principle asked DesuLoli again.

"Yup.", DesuLoli nodded and grinned in response with a lot of joy in her face.

"Well...the combination of you being a foreign exchange student and the high drop rate of the class, I have no choice but to accept your request, Ms. Hoffle. All you need to do is come back here at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning to begin your enrollment here. We'll certainly be looking for your attendance here, Ms. Hoffle. Good day", the principle told DesuLoli, while calmly escorting her and Jarvis out of the office.

* * *

With DesuLoli now officially enrolled in the school and Class 2-A in particular, she then tells Jarvis "Great. Now I can really show Ol' Blue Hair that you are no match to me, Kristina 'DesuLoli' Hoffle!", DesuLoli jumped with her right arm extended, obviously showing how much she loves to indulge in fighting game-like poses and heavily showing her narcissism.

However, DesuLoli then noticed that she had to go to the little girl's room.

"Oh, Jarvis. I need to take a wizz?", DesuLoli told Jarvis.

"Okay, Kristina. I'll just hang out outside while you do your business.", Jarvis replied, immediately walking away.

* * *

Inside the bathroom, DesuLoli goes to her stall and does her thing while talking to herself, "Heh...at least I get to see anime without the bullshit US distribution companies pull on us fans while living here for these few months. I so love Japan"

After a minute of relieving herself, she then pulled her pants and panties up to where it will stay firmly on, leaves the stall and leaves the bathroom altogether.

She then leaves the school...only to find that Jarvis is nowhere to be found...at all.

"Oh come on, Jarvis. Why did you have to go look for some goodies without me? I was going to do so when we were going to meet up with Natsumi. Seriously...where are you?", a very, very worried DesuLoli began to yell as she walked and looked around.

"I know you like to do this, but doing this by being totally out of sight is SO not you.", DesuLoli continued to yelp.

Being very persistant, she just decided to make her way to the city in hopes of finding Jarvis.

* * *

_**Hours later....**_

School has let out.

Rei and Mari are walking with each other, with Mari obviously curious of what happened at Misato's house last night.

"So...did you and Shinji went all bump tummies last night?", Mari asked, complete with a very devious grin.

However, Rei then immediately replied, "No, Mari. Me and Shinji-kun aren't even going out yet. All I did was had some truly rancid tasting dinner, courtesy of Misato, had a nude encounter with a warm water penguin and of all things, had another weird-ass dream."

"Oh, that's a real bummer to hear that. But hey, you two must have had fun, eh?", Mari replied.

"Yeah...but anyways, I gotta get back home. I'll call you later, okay?", Rei replied.

"Alrighty, i'll be just watching stuff on my poo poo telly like usual, unless HQ needs us again.", Mari replied "Take care."

Mari went her way, while Rei went her own, though there's still plenty of time to do other things in the day.

* * *

Back in her apartment, totally alone, Rei gulps and tells herself, "Alright, I totally dreaded this moment, but I just gotta hear what this audio freakshow sounds like."

She then grabs her bag, removes the plastic bag containing the CD and removes it from the plastic bag it was stored it.

She takes a good glance at it, then unwraps and removes all that packaging stuff, opens up the case, takes the disc out, walks towards her stereo, puts the CD in the stereo, plugs her headphones into the stereo's headphones jack, puts the headphones on, turns on the stereo and listens to the CD.

As she sat, listening to the CD, her eyes just kept bugging out and her jaw wide open, all she could mutter was "I am assaulted", in a bizarrely monotone matter.

In a trance-like matter, Rei stood up, still having that freaked out look in her face, turned off the stereo and removed the headphones. She kept walking around, having that "just saw a ghost" look in her face, but all of a sudden, several knocks on the door made her shriek, causing her to launch into the air, but once she landed back on the floor, she then heard some voices coming from the other side of the door asking "Hey Rei! Its just us."

It was Toji's voice.

"Yeah. Can ya let is in?", the voice of Kensuke called out as well.

Rei, regaining her touch in reality, then replied "Yeah, come in."

The door then swung up, with both Toji and Kensuke walking in.

They saw her on the floor and came to her side, with Toji asking in a concerned tone "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, we heard you talking all weird and you screamed after we started knocking on your door. Anything wrong?", Kensuke asked, sounding equally concerned.

"Well...i'm alright. I just gave myself a major spook by listening to this...thing.", Rei replied, with her voice sounding mostly normal, but also having minor traces of that weird monotone she displayed a minute ago or two.

"What thing?", Toji asked, not being sure at all what Rei was referring to.

Rei then instantly pointed to the case of the CD she bought yesterday and was just listening to, but when Toji and Kensuke saw her point at it, they then both rushed to it, with Toji picking it up.

"Hmmm...you think that...", Toji muttered while examining the CD artwork.

"Hey...maybe this is that CD the old man was talking about.", Kensuke added.

"Well...even if it is, we need to ask Rei if we can borrow it first", Toji responded while whispering.

"Okay.", Kensuke whispered back.

Both Toji and Kensuke then turned around and approached Rei, with Toji asking first "Hey Rei. Mind if we borrow it?"

Rei shifted her eyes, thought for a few seconds, then replied "....yeaaah. Go ahead and borrow it. I don't mind", sporting an uneasy smile on her face.

"Great!", Kensuke replied.

"We'll bring it back tomorrow, though we gotta get going.", Toji added

"Yeah...see ya!", Kensuke added as well.

Both boys then started to make their way to the door, but Rei then shouted out "Well, you can't leave without the disc itseld.", in which she then opened up the stereo disc tray and took the disc out of it. She then walked towards the boys, in which they opened the case for her to put the disc in it.

After she did so, the boys closed the case and she then told them "Okay you two, i'll see you both tomorrow...bye!" and waved.

Toji and Kensuke waved at Rei, then left, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

Shortly after they leave, Rei sat down on her couch, turned on the TV, but right before she could actually get to surfing through the stations, another knock came from the other side of the door.

"Come in", Rei shouted out.

In came Mari, who then saw Rei at the couch, then decided to dive and plop onto the couch and proceeded to tell Rei "Well...I feel like going around town. Wanna tag along?"

"Well...alright. I don't mind stopping by a few stores and such.", Rei replied. However, she then asked Mari, "Hey! Can we stop by Katsuragi's place and ask her if Shinji can come along?"

Mari smirked, shifted her eyes to the left, then to the right and replied "Absolutely. Now...let's get going!"

Rei nodded, grabbed her keys, turned off the TV and the both of them got off the couch and left the apartment room, with Rei locking the door right before they left the complex altogether.

* * *

Somewhere in a desolated alleyway in the city, DesuLoli kept her manhunt for Jarvis up, though she began to look a bit exhausted from her prolonged seach.

"Jarvis! You better stop fucking around and actually show yourself. Its getting late and I need to get to Natsumi's place.", DesuLoli groaned out in a very irritated tone.

However, she then tripped over something, landing face first into the pavement, but when she got up, she noticed that it was a severed leg, of all things, she tripped on.

Looking freaked out, she gasped and got away from the dismembered limb, but when she looked up to a wall, she noticed a truly ghastly sight.

It was Jarvis, her cameraman, nailed to the wall, with his gut torn up, entrails on the floor, his face sporting a few knife tears in it and the words "Christ Will Save You All!", written next to him in his own blood.

All DesuLoli could do was scream in horror at the sight.

Scream a blood curdling scream that pretty much got the attention of everyone not too far from the alleyway.


	20. Chapter 19: Scenes of the Crime

**Chapter 19: Scenes of the Crime

* * *

**

"This is Agent Smith reporting. Yes, we have a real case of a dead corpse nailed to the wall", Agent Smith, kneeling by a concrete wall and talking into his earpiece, reports in.

"So you and Agent Will are on the scene. Just make sure you have cleaned off the warning off the wall before anyone else sees it. We don't want the citizens getting all paranoid over some 'holy assassin' lurking around, ready to strike.", Commander Ikari replies to Agent Smith via a microphone in his secret office. Apparently, he's alone in this room, with Yui, Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki nowhere to be seen in the same room.

"Affirmative, Commander. We already had removed the body from the crime scene and bagged it. As for the message, we used our best chemicals to remove it in a quick and neat manner.", Agent Smith replied back.

"Thank you. That is all that is needed. With the constant angel threat, we can't deserve to have even more panic stacked on top of that, so I greatly appreciate the work you two have accomplished.", Commander Ikari responded.

* * *

Gendo then shut off the comlink between his communicator and Agent Smith's earpiece. He then stands up and head towards the door, only to walk up into The Dark One, who had entered the room in his typically stealthy matter. This pretty much startles Gendo, forcing him to take a few steps back. "Jeebus, you and your ways of sneaking in."

"See, Gendo. I am that good when it comes to coming in without warning", The Dark One replies in his typically guttural, mechanical fashion while pacing around Gendo. "Now...from what I just heard, it seems like that you got a bug that needs swatting. Mind if I...lend in a hand?"

"Not now, Dark One. However, if our 'holy assassin' decides to go after one of our own...I give you full authority to make a art project out of her.", Gendo replies while sporting a fairly malicious looking grin. However, he shifts his eyes and adds "However...I would prefer you to wait until the witching hour to strike, especially if we get a hostage situation regarding our holy assassin, since Agent Will and Agent Smith are on standby already to jump into action if she gets one of our own...but if they don't manage to completely kill her off, then you can have all the fun with her final moments."

The Dark One then stops behind Gendo, then pops his head over Gendo's right shoulder to ask him "Now...If you had to kill her yourself...would you do it?"

Gendo turns around, puts his right hand over his chin, ponders for a few seconds, shifts his eyes towards The Dark One and replies in a honest tone, "Not really. I wouldn't want to hold the guilt of killing another, no matter how dangerous they are and is a risk to others. Especially since I doubt I would bare to hide the guilt from Yui."

Folding his arms together, The Dark One then growls back "I see. You clearly don't have the balls to kill another. Just wanted to know that". He then starts to pace around the room again.

Gendo, being a bit irritated by The Dark One's seemingly cold view on the tragedy of death, walks towards The Dark One, grabs him by one of his shoulders and yells "And have you ever killed anyone yourself?"

The Dark One then turns his head towards Gendo, with the red wash from the visors coming over his eyes as what would be an overloading amount of text, figures and graphs scrolled across it providing him with a consent updates from both sensors in the suit as well as some other "projects" of his and growls back "Almost. However, I did indirectly murder others, but not with my own hands. I did come close with my owns hands, though."

Acknowledging this, Gendo then steps away from The Dark One and replies "Fair enough." and sits back on his chair by the table.

The Dark One then steps in front of his desk and informs Gendo, "Now, I need to get out in the open, but I'll be back when we need to converse alone again, as always", then glides wraith like towards the exit door, leaving Gendo alone to ponder his words as his form disappears into the shadows once more.

* * *

Shortly after his "guest" vanished into the darkness, Gendo lounges back in his chair with his feet resting comfortably upon his desk, only to receive a phone call just as he got fully comfortable

"Ugh. I wish it was still the days that we didn't get much attention here", Gendo grumbles right before he picks up the phone to answer it. He then picks up the phone and answers it. "Hello?"

"So...its been years, Gendo.", the man on the other line replies with a very cocky tone.

"Shuichi Mochizuki, you son of a bitch. What do you want?", Gendo replied in a vastly irritated tone, gritting his teeth as he muttered those words.

"Well...tomorrow, i'm gonna have one of my boys have a conference for our debut competition against your skinny ass Evangelions and I just called to inform you that.", Shuichi replied, illuminating an extreme sense of cockiness and sleaze in his voice.

"Oh really...well...heh...good luck, then.", Gendo replied back, but he then heard that Shuichi had hung up already, so he then quipped out "asshole" to himself.

* * *

"Ooooh whhyyy! Whhhyyy diiid heeee haaave tooo diiieeee!", a manic, weeping DesuLoli was crying on the pavement, kneeled down close to the spot she found Jarvis' corpse.

Suddenly, we see Rei, Mari and Shinji arrive on the scene, spot DesuLoli crying, then notice that both Misato and Ritsuko are at the scene too, aside from various cops, EMTs, overlooking civilians and the previously mentioned Agent Will and Agent Smith.

They then walk up to them, with Rei asking "Man, what happened here?".

Misato turned around and replied "This poor visitor's cameraman was found...well...nailed to death."

Ritsuko then added "Yeah. A very ghastly sight. Her screams were so loud that even the two of us, checking out the sight of the last angel fight, heard the screams. So we all got here and that's where we all been for the last 15 minutes."

Rei, being quite surprised by the sight of DesuLoli in tears, walked towards her and asked "Uhhh...what happened?"

However, DesuLoli yelled back, "Stay away from me, ol' blue hair! I don't need any pity shit. Especially from you!"

Rei backed off, took a few steps back to where Mari was standing and whispered to her "Man, even in tears, she's got a major chip on her shoulder. A total bitch". Mari just nodded to what Rei said, as did Shinji. Rei then muttered, "I wonder how we could help around here?"

* * *

Mari then immediately shouted in response "Hold on!", ran to the actual murder sight, then began to, of all things, sniff around the crime scene (mainly on the ground and on the walls). She then eventually stopped at the wall, sniffed around the wall with her nose close to the wall, paused, took her right index and middle finger right onto a fairly moist part of the wall, slid them down it, slowly removed her fingers from the wall and put them into her mouth (much to her peer's sheer shock and disgust).

After tasting whatever residue she picked up, Mari then replied "Well, according to the blood residue, it was definitely caused by a sharp object. A knife to be exact".

"How can you tell that, Mari?", Rei asked Mari, still befuddled by what her friend is doing.

"Hang on a sec., Rei", Mari replied back. She then let the taste sink in further, then added "By the taste of the metal flacks in the blood residue minus the chemical residue form the blood thinning agent they sprayed to clean it up, I'd say it was a brownie knife of about 3cm in length made of B grade high carbon steal with just pinch of copper and by the ting of the taste, I'd say the steel was forged form African iron, the copper is Irish."

"What the hell are you talking about?", Misato shouted at Mari in utter confusion.

"Well...its a long story, Katsuragi, but...", Mari replied.

However, not 100% satisfied by the results she managed to pick up, Mari then forces herself down to the pavement, crawling and sniffing around the floor, up until she stops at one vital spot. Once again, Mari proceeds to place her index and middle finger onto a spot on the pavement, slides her fingers onto that spot, removes her fingers from the spot and puts said fingers into her mouth to taste what she sniffed up.

After tasting this residue, Mari then announces "Well, the person who commited this act is obviously homeless. I can just taste that this person's clothes are preeetty filthy.", though she then spits, apparently trying to remove any dirt or such ilk from her tongue so she wouldn't accidentally swallow whatever she put into her mouth. She also proceeds to wipe her fingers off on her own clothes.

Rei, witnessing her best friend going into weird mode, shouted out "Ummmm...Mari. What exactly did that do to help? Wouldn't it just..give you bacteria that would make you sick and such?". Once again, Shinji continued to remain silent.

Mari, overhearing what Rei said, turned her head her back and shouted in response "No need to worry. In fact, ol' Ritsuko could just inject some vaccines into my system, right?"

Ritsuko then replied "Yeah yeah yeah, Ms. Mari Makinami. I will vaccinate you once you get to HQ later.", sporting a very "meh", unamused look on her face.

"Also, I never knew you had such a good sense of taste and smell", Rei added, with a sense of astoundment in her voice.

"Well, as my pop told me when I was a wee little girl, I sure could smell and taste things no other person could.", Mari replied, sporting a big grin and giving a thumbs up to Rei and the unusually silent Shinji.

Shinj then spoke up by whispering to Rei "Well, that's something you don't see everyday", in which Rei nodded in response.

* * *

Out of nowhere, Maya Ibuki popped out of nowhere and pranced towards Misato and Ritsuko (though closer by Ritsuko than Misato) in a very cutesy fashion. "So what's going on, senpai?"

Ritsuko, instantly startled by Maya's overly bubbly voice, replied and asked, "Lt. Ibuki. Wasn't expecting you to show up here. So...where have you been?"

Maya, tilting left and right while showing a somewhat goofy grin on her face, replied "Here and there". However, she then shifted from being all lighthearted to being a bit more serious minded by adding "Commander Ikari has requested you and Katsuragi's presence at HQ."

"What do you mean, Maya? Why exactly do we need to go to HQ now, especially in the middle of this investigation?", Misato asked in response as she turned her head towards Maya while displaying a bit of confusion in her look.

"No need to worry. The Commander has it all under control. However, we need to get to HQ soon and not keep him waiting. In fact, i'll drive you two there.", Maya replied, keeping a confident look in her face.

Ritsuko, realizing that Mari had asked her to give her a vaccination to be safe, shouted at Mari, "Well, you gotta come along with us since we have to leave, Ms. Makinami."

Mari, overhearing Ritsuko, walked away from where she was standing and walked towards Ritsuko and stood aside her to await what was going to happen next.

Rei then walked towards Misato and asked "Can I come along too?"

However, Maya then immediately replied "Of course, Rei. In fact, you get shotgun when we get into the car.", though she then added "Sadly, I don't have enough seats for Shinji to come along too."

Shinji then replied "That's okay. I can walk home alone. I'll see you all tomorrow", waved and started to walk home.

* * *

After Shinji left, Maya then told the others "Well, you all get to the car. I'll be there in a few seconds.", in which Rei, Mari, Misato and Ritsuko all headed towards Maya's car. Maya herself, though, kneeled down the crime scene spot and started to look around, darting her eyes in a dead serious matter from the left to the right, with her face looking equally stern. In only a few seconds later, Maya suddenly washed her overt seriousness from her face, resumed being all bubbly and walked towards her car, with Misato, Ritsuko, Rei and Mari all waiting by it.

"What are you all waiting for? The doors have been unlocked since I parked it. Get in, get in. We can't keep the Commander waiting.", Maya cheerfully order the others as she swayed her hands towards the car and saw the others get into their respective seats (Rei obviously taking shotgun by Maya's request). Maya herself finally got into her car, started it up and drove off.

* * *

In the car, Misato asked Maya "So...now that we're on the way to HQ, can you actually explain to us why we have to go to HQ at this moment and why the Commander needs us?"

Maya immediately replied "Afraid I can't say so. The Commander gave me specific orders. Pick you all up and drop you all off. Just because you both are my superiors, Katsuragi and Senpai Akagi, doesn't mean that The Commander will have to make us follow our superiors regarding rank. If we're needed at a certain time, we're needed and have to get the job done, regardless of rank", speaking in a tone that is half bubbly/cheery and half serious/morose. This makes Mistao shift her face into a pout.

Ritsuko then turned her head towards Misato and told her, "Well, if that's what Commander Ikari wants, then that's what Commander Ikari needs.", while sporting a fairly unsure grin on her face.

Misato, still a bit unamused, then replied, "I wonder what Ms. Ikari's thoughts will be in this matter?"

Ritsuko replied back "To be honest, I am actually quite curious to hear what she thinks of what this thing her husband wants us for myself.", displaying a more optimistic tone in her voice.

Mari, not really knowing of what to say, as well as generally not having much to say either, just remained silent.

Meanwhile, in the front seats, Maya asked Rei, "Its been a while since we two have talked to each other."

Rei then quickly replied "I noticed that, Maya. Though why do you always want me to sit shotgun when you pick me up?"

Maya grinned and replied "I have my reasons, but we don't have a lot of time for words. We're here at HQ and both Katsuragi and senpai need to speak to the commander ASAP". She then stopped the car (They are pretty much inside HQ now) and got out, with Ritsuko, Rei, Mari and Misato proceeding to leave as well.

* * *

While entering the lobby, Ritsuko then informed Maya "I'll be there. I first need to give Ms. Makinami her...vaccination", gritting her teeth as she muttered why she'll be slightly behind them.

Maya quickly replied, "Ah. That's right. Though vaccinate her immediately. The Commander told me that you two are pretty much needed now, but I guess vaccination won't take too long, so I guess he'll let it slide".

Ritsuko immediately nodded and escorted Mari to the medical lab.

Rei, on the other hand, asked Maya "So what about me and Mari? Well, I mean when Mari comes back after getting vaccinated. What should we two do?"

Maya then replied "Just hang out in the lounge room. I'll stop by the medical lab and inform Mari that too. So, go along, go along", and walked away.

* * *

Inside the lounge room, Rei spotted Hyuga and Aoba watching the original Highlander, in which she then said "Woah...what a movie to watch in here.", proceeded to walk by them and asked "Hey. Can I sit alongside you two and watch along?"

Aoba replied "Sure, Rei. Take a seat and enjoy this classic of a movie. Then, we'll watch Highlander II after this is over."

Hyuga then yelled "Why Highlander II? It friggin' sucks and totally ruined the series. I refuse to suffer through that again."

Aoba replied back "Well...chill out, man. I don't plan to show the version with fucking Planet Zeist."

Hyuga shouted back "Who cares? No matter how many times they tried to fix it, a turd is a turd and you know that."

Rei decided to butt in and replied, "You kmow? Highlander II, especially the later versions, isn't that bad. Especially compared to the ones that followed. Heck, I haven't seen either in a long time, so I don't mind."

Realizing that its pretty much a 2 on 1 situation, Hyuga caved in and replied, "Alright, alright. We'll watch friggin' Highlander II after Highlander. Sheesh!"

With that struggle out of the way, all three proceeded to watch the movie, but then Mari suddenly walked into the lounge room, announcing "I'm all healthy now!", spotted the TV in the lounge room and said "Highlander, eh? Well, are we gonna watch Highlander II as well?"

* * *

Inside the meeting room, Misato and Ritsuko sat in fold out chairs in front of Gendo's table, who then told them "I got a call from an old face earlier."

"What do you mean, Commander Ikari?", Misato asked, being not sure of what he means.

"Well, i'll just say the important stuff now. I need the both of you to attend this conference tomorrow on Nerv's behalf. This conference is pretty much supposed to be the announcement of a rival to our Evangelions, so I need you two there to get the lowdown on what they have to say about this possible competitor."

"Okay...I normally don't get my hands dirty into this kind of aspect here, but I guess it won't hurt to do something different, especially with no signs of an angel attack ready to happen soon, so okay. I'll accept.", Ritsuko replied

"Yeah...I can go there too. Got nothing else to do, plus, the kids can just spend time with each other while us grownups are gone doing these things", Misato added.

"Good. You two are dismissed.", Gendo informed.

* * *

After both Misato and Ritsuko left, Gendo began to recline on his chair and table, only to spot his wife Yui walking into the room, asking "Who's setting up this...conference, my love?"

"Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise.", Gendo immediately replied.

"Ugh. A real joke of a corporation and if that's gonna be our competitor, it'll be like a football player fighting against an Olympic Jogger. It won't be fair on their part, considering how advance the Evangelions are.", Yui muttered in a matter that made it seemed like that she totally laughed off the other corporation. However, she then realized something and added, "Unless...unless that Naomi Mifune suddenly resurfaced as a member of them. If that's the case, we're screwed!"

Gendo immediately stood up, walked behind his wife, put his arms around her chest and replied, "No no no, Yui, If Naomi came back from whatever hut she hermited in, you would know it and I would know it. With what I know, I can assure you that Naomi is NOT working for Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise. At all."

Yui then turned around, looked straight into her husband's eyes and replied, "Well, you're certainly right. If that Naomi did came back, word would get around about her return, but as you pointed out, she ain't back, so we're certainly..very much still on the top.", while grinning at him.

"Of course, my Yui.", Gendo replied, "That's why we are married in the first place. We're both a force to be reckoned with and with the threat of the angels, we, Nerv, are the only ones that can protect the world. I love you", wrapped his arms around Yui's head and the two proceeded to lock lips.

After kissing, Yui then said "Well...one thing I 100% am positive about. I sure am hungry"

Gendo added, "Me too. Let's go. In fact, let's pick up Shinji before doing so", smiling as he talked.

"Good. At least you're remembering that you're his father. That makes me proud. Anyways, let's head out", Yui replied back and the two left the room.

* * *

After they left, leaving the room empty, in a dark corner of it, two red lights lit up.

A tell-tale sign that The Dark One was observing the conversations in secrecy.

"Heh. You two go and have your food. I need to get back to my own matters in my own hands...working on my own little...pet project", The Dark One growled to himself, adding a demonic chuckle after finishing up what he said.

The lights illuminating from his helmet then vanished into the darkness, as usual. Showing that once again, The Dark One hides and lives in the shadows. Hides and lives in a way that no one else even knows of his existence. At all.


	21. Chapter 20: Jack of All Trades and Lies

**Chapter 20: Jack of All Trades and Lies

* * *

**

"Oh boy...all out of saké. Meh", muttered a familiar sounding caucasian homeless person, sitting slopped over on the floor of his dirty, messy makeshift home that is both quite grungy in looks and has a stench that most would fine unbearable. His supply of saké had run dry, thus leaving him without his buzz and happy juice.

He then planted his hands on the ground, narrowly missing a clump of broken glass nearby and eased himself up. After he stood up, he stumbled around his home, walking towards a shoddily built shelf and looked through it, in hopes to find what he suddenly had the urge to look for.

"Ooooh shit. I think I might have some Happoshu lying around here. I'll think i'll hold me over before I can cough up more yen by rebuild my supply of saké.", the homeless person grumbled as he tossed various books, trash and other junk off the shelf in a very hasty fashion. He then managed to find a metal lunchbox on said shelf, instantly took it off the shelf and layed it on the floor. He then proceeded to open it, revealing several cans of Happoshu.

"There you are, you sons of bitches", the caucasian homeless man muttered to himself, referring to the cans of Happoshu in the lunchbox. He then took one out, lifted it towards his face, noticed that it was a bit on the warm side, told himself "Well...Even if not cold, I still need my goddamn buzz", opened it up and started to drink the can.

* * *

As the caucasian homeless man sat on his cold, dirty floor and drank his can of Happoshu, he began heard footsteps coming from outside. At first, he shrugged off the footsteps, but as they got closer to his makeshift home, he got increasingly worried and spooked over what could be on the other side, so he stood up, with his can of Happoshu firmly being held in his right hand, and walked over to the door of his makeshift home.

First, he stood by it, with his right ear being placed onto the door itself to see if he could hear anything. Since he did not hear anything, he then asked "Hello? Is anyone there?", in a worried tone.

No response at all.

With no response from the other side, he then put his left had near the doorknob and started to creak the door open, first slowly, but when he suddenly gained an extra pinch of confidence, he just slammed the door open, only to reveal that no one was standing in front of it.

"Heh. Maybe my years of acid abuse is starting to take its toll. Its just nothing.", the caucasian homeless man chuckled to himself. However, to be safe, he stepped outside, looked at both grungy, trash and scrap infested sides of the walkway, sighed in relief, and proceeded to walk back inside his makeshift home, despite keeping the door open a little longer.

All of sudden, out of nowhere, a familiar trenchcoat and hat donning figure, apparently wielding a knife in hand, darted into the house and shut the door after it got inside.

The night just resumed, just being business as usual.

* * *

"So, Mari. Feeling sick from the crap you did yesterday?", Rei asked her friend Mari, who is walking alongside her to school.

"Oh no, Rei. I feel jolly. Not a single trace of feeling like shite at all.", Mari joyfully replied, appearing to be as bouncy as usual.

"Anyways...what'cha got planned for after school", Mari proceeded to ask Rei.

"Well, i'll be going to Aoba's. We're gonna jam and such.", Rei replied. As of now, they're on school grounds. Close to the actual classrooms, but not in the hallways.

"Ah...well since we're here and the class rep. is a real twat, cheerio for now.", Mari told Rei right before the two entered the classroom.

Rei waved at Mari and the two entered the classroom and walked to their respective seats.

* * *

Rei got by her set and sat in it. She scanned around the classroom and noticed two things. 1. Shinji is nowhere to be seen & 2. The clock has revealed that she and Mari arrived 5 minutes earlier than usual. However, the door suddenly opened up and a very surprising sight was seen.

It was none other than DesuLoli, but now dressed in the standard issue school uniform and looking very shy. An image that was the polar opposite of what she saw of her the day before.

"What the hell is she doing here?", Rei questioned to herself. As she looked around the room and examined her classmates, the others seemed equally befuddled at the sight and possibility that DesuLoli will now be a fellow classmate. Rei even looked at Mari, who telegraphed a real "What the fuck is she doing here?" expession in both her face and body movement.

Rei then reset her sights on DesuLoli again, who was standing by both the teacher and class rep. Hikari Horaki. "Well, why don't you introduce yourself to us all, Ms. Hoffle.", the teacher told DesuLoli, in which DesuLoli herself nods in response.

DesuLoli then turned around and faced her to be fellow classmates and announced, "Well...i'm not all that great when it comes to introductions, but my name is Kristina Hoffle. I am from the United States of America, but will be living here in Japan to have studies in your culture and such. I'm a very nice, but somewhat crazy little girl, but I sure love to make friends with you all during my time here". DesuLoli then proceeded to do a traditional Japanese bow and muttered "Arigatō" as she bowed.

After DesuLoli finished what she said and bowed, Hikari then muttered "Well, at least Claire has someone to talk to now and not feel all lonely anymore". She then told DesuLoli "Well, you can take any seat you want, Kristina-chan."

"Yoi, Hikari-san", DesuLoli told Hikari, in which Hikari gave a look that was both being respectful, but also one that showed her being irked at DesuLoli shoehorning her uber love for Japanese culture by muttering a few words in Japanese, albeit with it not sounding all that accurate.

DesuLoli then walked around the classroom, eventually seating herself next to a redhead caucasian girl, who just seemed as out of place in the classroom as Rei and DesuLoli herself.

* * *

After DesuLoli sat down, she took a look at the redhead girl and asked her, "Say...you look rather...american. What'cha doing here?"

The redhead then turned her head towards DesuLoli and replied, "Well, a few months ago, me and my father moved here from the states, considering that my father has a position at Nerv and all, so its obvious that I have to go to school here.", in a fairly unamused tone.

"Kūru", DesuLoli replied.

However, she heard someone growl at her, in which that made her glance her head towards the direction that the growl. She then saw an irate looking Hikari, who then proceeded to tell her, "Kristian-chan. I know you're new here and such, but you still have to follow the rules and one of those rules is...NO TALKING IN CLASS!", with the expression on her face twisting into one of fire and brimstone.

"Sate, daijōbu, Hikari-san. Chill out. I'll talk to her later, okay? Tada... Hieru.", DesuLoli replied in a very "please don't kill me tone"

Hikari's face twisted back to a more cheery, happy look, in which she then replied, "Okay, Kristina-chan. Just the follow the rules and you'll just do fine.", Hikari replied. She then walked off and grumbled something to herself quietly that no one could understand at all.

After class rep. Hikari walked away, the redhead girl then whispered to DesuLoli, "Well, you're quite the negotiator. Father tells me that the world can always use more of your type."

DesuLoli then whispered back, "Well, thank you. Anyways, my name is Kristian Hoffle, but you can just call me DesuLoli."

"Okay...DesuLoli. My name is Claire Phoenix, but you can just call me Phoenix. Nice to meet you.", Phoenix whispered in response.

"Nice to meet you too.", DesuLoli whispered back, in which the two girls then shook their hands and resumed to wait to here what type of activities the class will partake in today.

* * *

"Well, we're here, Misato", Ritsuko informed her longtime friend and fellow coworker Misato.

The two are both dressed up in a rather business-like fashion and are inside a Nerv-provided Limo. The door opened up, signaling both women that it was time for them to leave and enter the building that the Limo was parked in front of.

* * *

After Misato and Ritsuko got out of the Limo, they started to head towards the building in which the conference was taking place in and began to talk to each other.

"So...Rei and Mari went to school today, right", Ritsuko asked Misato.

"Mari called me and informed that they were heading towards school, so they are indeed at school.", Misato informed Ritsuko.

"What about Shinji?", Ritsuko added.

"He's with his mother. She requested me to send him over so she could spend the day with him.", Mistao informed.

"I bet the Commander isn't talking the time to be with either of them, though.", Ritsuko replied.

"I guess.", Misato responded. "Anyways, we gotta see what these...competitors have to say."

"Yeah...I suppose.", Ritsuko replied back.

* * *

Both women then stepped inside the building. As they walked around, they suddenly ran into someone they hadn't seen in years.

"Hoooly shit. Its Misato and Naoko's daughter Ritsuko. Been a long time.", the man, who is none other than Shiro Tokita, the man forced by his boss and employer to be the speaker in behalf of the company of the conference.

"Oh. My. God. Shiro, where have you been all this time?", Misato replied. She and Shiro proceeded to hug each other. They then stepped away from each other

"Well...here and there.", Shiro chuckled in response. "Anyways, where's my old drinking buddy and your man Kaji?", Shiro asked Misato.

Suddenly, Misato's face became one of disgust and sternly replied "PFFT. Kaji. We broke up a while back. In fact, I don't even want to talk about him, Shiro".

"Oh. Well, that sucks", Shiro replied. He then turned his head towards Ritsuko and asked her, "What about you, Rits. Any clue where Ol' Kaji is?"

"He's in Germany. In fact, I was last informed by the Commander that he and the Second will be arriving here in about a week", Ritsuko informed.

"Ugh! Can't believe that he's coming down, but...The Second? We really need that many EVAs down here in Japan?", Misato replied, sounding taken aback by this sudden news.

"According to the Commander and Mrs. Ikari, the UN said that since the angels come here first, we would need all the defense we could get, so that's why The Second is getting transferred here", Ritsuko informed.

"Feh. Okay, i'll take your word for it, Rits", Misato groaned in response.

Shiro then placed his hands on one of Misato and Ritsuko's shoulders and whispered to them "Speaking of mech-related stuff, I like to tell you two something in private. Okay?"

Both women nodded, in which Shiro added "Follow me".

They then walked into a room that was away from the main conference room.

* * *

Once inside, Misato was the first one to ask "Okay, Shiro, What you got to tell us that we need to be obscured from the others?"

Shiro then reclined near a table and informed them, "Well, I work for Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise and to be honest, I want out. Out of the company. The boss is a real bastard. In fact, I was given the orders to be the speaker of this conference on his behalf."

"How...can't believe that you, of all people, is working for those punks at Sūpā Tawagoto", Misato replied.

"I know. Keep telling that to myself everyday, but not anymore. I will tell this to you and only you two, so please, don't inform your employer or anyone else what I tell you, okay?", Shiro replied.

Both Misato and Ritsuko nodded in response.

"Anyways, tomorrow, we will be testing out Jet Alone, the mecha that is supposed to be Sūpā Tawagoto's answer to your Evangelions. What the boss and no one else knows is that THIS Jet Alone I made to be an utter piece of crap. Yeah, I am setting myself up to get fired and be free from their goddamn clutches.", Shiro informed Misato and Ritsuko.

"So...you crafted a plan to get fired, eh. Heh, when you get fired, I think you should come to work at Nerv. It would be nice to have you around.", Misato replied.

"Can't disagree with that.", Ritsuko added.

"Well...great. Two other things. This first one, however, I have to whisper it to you both", Shiro informed. He then whispered it into both Misato's and Ritsuko's ears, which received fairly surprising reactions from both ladies.

"Shiro. You're sure a real stinker.", Misato replied. Ritsuko simply nodded along.

"Yeah.", Shiro replied. "Anyways, in addition that, when I come to Nerv, I want to bring along the thing that the boss gave me cash for that I used it all in.", Shiro added.

"Well...sounds fine. I guess we'll talk to you later. Bye", Misato replied back.

"Same here, you two. I gotta get prepared for my...well...bogus speech.", Shiro responded.

Misato and Ritsuko left, leaving Shiro alone in the room. Shiro himself then said to himself "Well...even if I do get to work at Nerv, I wonder if Jet Alone Prime's personality will annoy the hell out of them? Oh whatever. I gotta get through this day, because I don't want to drag it out any further."

* * *

Rei, who is now dressed in her casual clothing, which consists of her leather biker jacket, a Metallica T-Shirt, jeans, some shoes and her guitar in its holder being carried on her back.

Its been about an hour and a half since she left school for the day, though she took a quick stop at her apartment to change into more appropiate appearal and get her guitar.

She finally arrived at Aoba's and stopped right at his door. She then knocked on it, in which a voice from the other side called out and said "Come in"

Rei then opened the door and walked inside. As she walked into Aoba's living room, she noticed that the 1981 Australian film "The Road Warrior" was playing on TV. The film itself was about halfway through, but before she could actually start watching it, she heard Aoba's voice telling her "Great, you made it."

Out of one room came Aoba, wearing a Apologist T-Shirt, boots and jeans with holes in in. He saw Rei and asked her "So...ready to jam?"

"Yeah..lemme just set my jacket down and get my guitar out and i'll be ready.", Rei replied

"Cool. Meet me in the jam room like usual.", Aoba replied back and walked away.

Rei carefully set her guitar down on the floor, removed her shoes, set them aside and took her jacket off, placed it on Aoba's couch, picked up her guitar, took it out of its case and walked into the hallway to head towards the jam room.

* * *

Once she stepped into the jam room, she saw Aoba standing in the room, with his guitar in his hands, who asked Rei, "So...what kind of style shall we goof around with today?"

"Ummmm, let's just play whatever comes to our mind.", Rei replied.

"Sure thing, Rei.", Aoba responded back.

Rei then walked towards Aoba, plugged her guitar into a Marshall Amp and stood next to Aoba.

"Are you ready?", Aoba asked Rei.

"Totally am. Let's rock the hell out of this place.", Rei responded.

"Great. 1...2...3!", Aoba told, counted and shouted.

The two then began playing guitar, obviously starting in a sort of Doom Metal-esque tone, only to slow build up and pick up the speed, switching gears to a more thrash metal oriented sound, finally esculating into a death metal/grindcore fusion.

After that portion of the jam finished, it took a turn to a more classic hard rock sound, at one point even making fun of J-Pop, in which the two kept swapping genres and such over the course of their jam.

* * *

"Well, the old guy told us that this is where he lived.", Kensuke muttered to his friend Toji.

The day before, they borrowed the CD Rei bought, which they believe is the CD the homeless caucasian man talked about and asked if they could find it.

"Yeah, just from the look of it, it sure is. I mean...damn. What a craphole of an alley.", Toji replied.

"Hey. Not everyone is fortunate enough to live a regular lifestyle", Kensuke replied.

However, they managed to step in front of a makeshift home, which is presumably the man's home.

"Well...this must be it.", Toji told his friend Kensuke. "Might wanna make this quick."

Kensuke, being the one that convinced his friend in participating in this fetch quest, opened the door and walked inside.

However, once Kensuke walked in, he caught the sight of the old man's corpse sitting near the wall, completely ripped apart with his guts, bood and entrails splattered and scattered on both the wall and the floor.

Being totally shocked by this sight, Kensuke, with a look of utter horror on his face, took several steps away from the body and completely stepped out of the house.

"What the hell did you see...a ghost?", Toji asked his bud in a snarky, sarcastic tone.

"Eeee...no...THE OLD GUY IS DEAD!", Kensuke screamed in a frantic tone.

"What the hell do you mean?", Toji asked.

Kensuke then immediately replied "Take a look yourself, smartass!"

"Okay, okay. I'll see what made you all spooked and...", Toji replied. However, he turned pale light too by seeing the sight, screaming "WE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!", in which both boys took a run for it, leaving the alleyway completely.

* * *

The duo had been jamming for close to an hour, when out of nowhere, one of the strings on Aoba's guitar broke.

"Shit!", Aoba yelled in response to the snapping of the string.

"I hate it when that happens.", Rei replied in response. However, she then told Aoba "Hey! I got a idea!"

"Go ahead, Rei. I love to hear what you gotta ask me.", Aoba replied/

"Well...my birthday is on the 31st of March. I was wondering if that I had a birthday party, we could entertain the visitors by dueling off in a Guitar Battle. How does that sound?", Rei asked.

Aoba thought for a second, then replied "That's a rad idea. We'll show the others that we can really shred."

Rei then told Aoba "Well, that was a lot of fun. I gotta get going. See you at HQ tomorrow!", Rei told Aoba.

"Okay...see you later too.", Aoba replied, in which Rei unplugged her guitar and walked out of the jam room with the guitar in hand. She then stepped foot into the living room again, put her guitar into its case, sat the case back down, put her leather biker jacket and shoes back on, picked up the guitar case and left Aoba's place.

* * *

Some time after leaving Aoba's, Rei started to walk back towards home. However, she spotted a freaked out, panic-strucken Toji and Kensuke heading towards her way.

Once they got towards her, Kensuke gave Rei's CD back, shouting, "Here...take your CD back!", only to run away with Toji, not even giving Rei a chance to ask them what happened.

Having no clue what happened, Rie then questioned herself, "Hmmmm...I guess they decided to listen to that CD. Heh...serves 'em right.", while sporting a devilish grin.

With that out of the way, Rei continued to walk back towards home.

* * *

Once she got home, she sat her guitar back in its placed, played a few video games and even listened to a CD. Eventually, it got late, leading her to get into her pajamas and going to bed.

Little does she know that what tomorrow holds for her is...well...something very, very eventful.


	22. Chapter 21: Mecha & Killer Action!

**Chapter 21: Super Mecha & Psycho Killer Action!

* * *

**

7:58 AM

* * *

Rei Ayanami is sleeping in her bed. Tossing and turning, with her pajamas loosely wrapped around her body in a oddly skimpy fashion. Her hair being equally messy as well.

The morning daylight is also illuminating throughout the room, highlighting Rei as her white bra is exposed by her pajama shirt hanging near the edge of the bed and that her pillow is on top of her head.

However, the sound of knocking at the door began to echo into the bedroom, in which Rei began to spaz on her bed, trying to get off of it fast enough to rush towards the door and answer it.

"Aw Crap!", Rei shouted out as she scrambled off the bed. "Am I late?"

She then leaped off the bed and dashed towards the door, though she stopped herself as she got close to the door, in order to prevent running into the door itself.

In front of the door, Rei unlocked and opened it to reveal that her friend Mari is standing in front of it, looking very tense.

"What is it, Mari? There's no school today? Does HQ need us?", Rei asked her friend, sounding a bit concerned at how tense her friend is looking.

However, Mari grabbed Rei by her arm and told her "Come on, Rei. We don't got much time!", in a dead serious tone.

"What do you mean 'don't got much time', Mari?", Rei replied, still sounding totally unsure of what's going on.

"Just come along. However, we got a ride, so we'll be able to get there rather quickly.", Mari responded, who's voice seemed to tone down considerably.

"A ride?", Rei replied again, still sounding completely clueless about this "situation" that sprung upon her just now.

* * *

Mari, being very persistent, starts dragging Rei by the arm, in which Rei starts yelling "Seriously, what the hell, Mari. WHAT THE HELL?"

"Shhhh. Calm down, Rei. Don't wanna ruin the surprise.", Mari calmfully told Rei with a smirk on her face.

After Rei caught a glimpse of Mari's smile, Rei's face started to turn red, in which she then proceeded to reply in a vastly angered tone, "...What do you mean surprise? Okay, its one thing to wake me up in case I am late for school or need to be at HQ, but if you wake me up for something that you are being so goddamn cryptic about, that just pisses me off. In fact, Makinami, why do you always have to pull this prankster shit on me and Shinji all the damn time!"

Mari then let go of Rei, in which both of them are about halfway near the parking lot. Mari then looked at Rei, sporting a half upset/half disappointed look, and muttered, "Oh Rei. Why do you always have to be so bloody sourpuss about things all the time?". She then turned her head towards a black Mercades, in which a bald man in a business suit and black shades in sitting in the driver seats. He then turns his head towards Mari's direction, raised his arms up and mouthed "Is she coming?". Mari then replied by simply expressing in her body movement with a total "I really don't know" look and expression all around.

Rei, who's on the pavement (but not hurt in any way) and still dressed in her sloppy looking pajamas, took a look at Mari, then took a glance at the direction Mari was looking at, noticed the Mercades and its driver, looked back at Mari, then looked at the pavement, twisted her face into a look of utter embarrassment and told herself, "Oh shit". She then stood up, with sorrow emitting in her body movement, faced herself in front on Mari and hugged her, crying, "I'm so sorry, Makinami. I just...just...just..."

In response, Mari started to pat Rei on her head, telling her, "Its okay. I've gotten bitchy for no reason myself before. Hell, I can assure you that i'm frustrated that I have not been able to really get to pilot my EVA and kick some major angel ass, but you don't need to bottle up your frustration and convert it into hateful vibes."

Rei remained clinging onto Mari, replying, "Thanks Mari. I'm sorry for being a bit hard on you at times, but for now on, I won't be bitchy if you or anyone else wake me up for something urgent, no matter how important or insignificant it is.", while nodding her head.

Mari instantly replied "Me too. I'll try to be less of an arse towards you and Shinji. However...nah, I like you two way too much to be mean to you both on purpose.", grinning and nodded at the same time.

The two girls then let each other go and stepped away from each other, in which Rei then asked Mari, "So...what's this big surprise in store for me?"

"Well, come on then. Don't wanna spoil it for you.", Mari responded.

Both girls then headed their way towards the Mercades and got in the back seats, with Rei entering the left door and Mari entering the right door.

* * *

Inside the car, Rei noticed that in between her and Mari was Claire Phoenix, a classmate of theirs.

"Uhhh..what are you doing in here...Phoenix?", Rei asked Phoenix.

"Excuse me?", the driver of the car grunted in response.

"Oh...so you're called Phoenix too, eh? What's the relation between you two?", Rei asked the driver.

Girl Phoenix then turned her head towards Rei and whispered, "Sorry that we two never really got to meet each other, so you can just call me Claire Phoenix, Rei-chan."

Rei then whispered back to Claire, "Well, its nice to actually speak to you in person, Claire". She then asked "But anyways, who is Mr. Clean up there?"

"Ummmmm Rei, that's my father Argo. He's the head of both Nerv's military and security. I rather you not call him funny names and such in front of him. He...well...let just put it as that he doesn't take crap from anyone of any age, gender, race, species and preference. If you mock him, diss him or talk shit about him, he'll TKO your ass faster than World Heavyweight Boxing Champ Bruiser Bronx could ever dream of.", Claire whispered back.

Mari then poked her head between Rei and Claire and replied, "Yeah. As Claire said...don't piddle about when regarding Argo. He'll paste your arse real 'ard. Just ask me. I've been there and seen him in action. No matter how anyone else thinks they're tough, when Argo deals with 'em, they're pissy-arsed in comparison."

"Gee. He seems like a real hardass", Rei whispered in response to both Mari and Claire, with her eyes all wide open in surprise and befuddlement.

Claire then lightly nugged Rei in the side and whispered back, "Oh, he isn't a hardass when not on the job. In fact, he's pretty cool when on his off-hours. Heh, I remember the time I saw him and the two Smiths drinking some Awamori. They were so drunk, father started singing some stupid song I don't even know what the name of it for the amusement of the two Smiths. They were all laughing and such. Normally, someone would be embarrassed by that kind of a sight, but considering how tough father is on the job, it was all fun and games. So anyways, if you think he's...wel...a little cold, that's only on the job, okay?"

Rei then whispered in response "Heh, talk about a real Jekyll and Hyde case".

Argo, out of nowhere, spoke up and asked "So you girls are doing fine back there? I saw that the blue haired one was having quite the fit, so i'm just curious."

Rei then replied "Oh, we're doing all fine, Mr. Phoenix. I myself is not upset any more."

Argo then added, "Speaking of your hair, missy...do you always dye it blue? Considering what I heard my daughter tell me, i'm surprised that the scholl allows you to have it blue."

Rei shrugged, told herself "Why do I always have to explain this?", then replied "Actually, Mr. Phoeniix and Claire, mom and pop have told me from time to time that I was born like that and that when my hair started to grow in, it was blue, just like how it is now."

"So, daddy must have worked at one of 'em nuclear plants ,eh?", Argo asked Rei in response.

"Yup. Must've caused a mutation in his genes and when mom got pregnant, the genes led to me being the way I am. That's the story I got", Rei replied back.

"Hmph! I have to say that you're rather...unique. A little...odd, but unique.", Argo admitted to Rei.

"Yeah, sure I have red hair, but natural blue hair is virtually unheard of", Claire added.

"Well...I suppose through normal means, but hey, I have natural blue hair so that makes me rather unique", Rei replied to both Claire and Argo. Rei then told herself in her head, "If only kids were fascinated by my hair when I was younger and not made a mockery of me."

"Yup. Then again, we're all unique in our own little way", Mari added.

"Indeed, girls", Argo replied to them all. "Anyways, we're here."

* * *

Rei, Mari, Argo and Claire all got out of the Mercades. However, Argo stepped in front of his daughter, telling her, "Sorry, missy, but only employees are allowed to go in."

"Oh come on, dad. You work for Nerv, so I should be at least able to go in too", Claire groaned at her father, with her face sporting a pouty look.

Argo then sternly replied, "Well that's the thing. I work for Nerv. YOU don't, so get back in the car and wait till I come back. I won't take long, okay?"

Claire then hunched her head and shoulders down, replied, "Yes, father.", and stomped her way back into the back seat of the Mercades.

After Claire got back in the Mercades, Rei, Mari and Argo made their way to the lobby, in which Mari then told Rei "Okay, until we get there, i'm gonna put my hands over your eyes while Argo escorts us."

"Ahhh, it must be something really cool, then?", Rei asked, with a trace of anticipation and excitement in her voice.

"Yeah, but like before, can't spoil the surprise", Mari replied and smirked.

"Okay then", Rei replied, with a slight hint of an excited squeal in her voice.

Mari then walked behind Rei and placed her hands over Rei's eyes.

Argo then told Rei and Mari, "Okay you two. Follow me."

a few minutes passed by and all three walked into the EVA storage room.

Once in a certain spot, they all stopped, with Mari telling Rei, "Okay, you can look now."

Mari then removed her hand from Rei's face, in which Rei herself opened her eyes.

What her eyes saw was Unit 00, now with sturdier, more refined blue armor, rather than its original orange. It also has horns to boot on its helmet.

"Ooooh my!", Rei yelped in excitement and surprise.

She then caught a glimpse of Yui and Gendo Ikari, in which Yu asked Rei "So...what you think?"

"Its...its...so much cooler now!", Rei yelled in excitement, though her voice simply escalated to a tone of excitement when she reached the end of her sentence.

"Well, to be upfront, the armor is not 100% complete, in which an additional two weeks are needed for it to be ready, but we just felt like showing it to you in advance", Yui replied

"Well, I can wait a little longer before resuming my duties", Rei replied back.

"Indeed. And considering that the second will be arriving around the same time the completion of Unit 00's is estimated to happen, you all will be able to really tackle on any following Angel Attack", Gendo infiormed.

"Wait...The Second is coming down here? Does that mean that Kaji is coming back too?", Rei asked, sounding very curious.

"Yes. In a matter of fact, I spoke to Kaji before you and Mari got here. He said that he would be nice to see you two again", Gendo replied.

"Heh...Kaji. A funny guy he sure is", Mari added.

"Yeah...anyways you too are not needed for the rest of the day, so enjoy yourselves", Yui told both girls.

Rei and Mari nodded and walked away, leaving Argo alone.

* * *

Gendo then added, "As for you, Argo, you know what to do"

"Yes sir. I'm off duty right now, so...take care, Ikari", Argo replied

"Same to you, Argo", Gendo replied.

Argo then walked out of the room.

* * *

"Ummmm Mari, i'm just gonna spend most of my day here", Rei informed Mari, in which both girls are walking through the hallway. The hallway itself sporting a few dents and cracks and a few lightbulbs are burnt out, making it a bit dank looking. The smell of oil, food from the mess hall and LCL can be emitted, but its not as bad as in other places.

"Let me see...you wanna really get a better look at...ahem...Super Unit 00...right?", Mari asked in response.

"Yeah. That and I got nothing better to do anyways", Rei replied.

"Well...go figure, then. I'll catch you around another day, okay?", Mari replied

"Same here to you to", Rei replied back.

Both Rei and Mari hugged each other, in which after they hugged, Mari went her merry way out of HQ.

* * *

"Well...since i'm here, I wonder if Shinji or Aoba is nearby. Oh well, off to the lounge room", Rei tells herself and walks off towards that direction.

* * *

As Mari is walking her way back to the city, she manages to run into Claire, who is also walking towards the city.

"Claire, I thought you were still in your pop's car. Wouldn't he be tip topsy over that you left without his permission?", Mari asked Claire, sounding vastly concerned.

"Well...not exactly. Me and father get into it all the time. We fight a lot, but that's what makes us stronger.", Claire replied.

Mari shifted her eyes to the left and to the right, replied "Well, reminds me of me and pops" and smiled after hearing what Claire said.

"Ah...that's cool. Anyways, since we're both heading to the same direction, I guess we can walk together. It that alright with you...Makinami?", Claire asked Mari.

"No problem, Claire. Since Rei's still at HQ and who knows where Shinji is, so hanging out with you is not out of the picture, so yeah. I like to walk with ya", Mari replied.

"Great. Let's keep going, then", Claire responded.

Both girls then continued their way.

* * *

As they got closer to the city, both Mari and Claire chatted about many things. Mainly stuff regarding family, personal tastes and such. However, they were then confronted by a familiar face.

"Stop!", a nasally female voice shouted at both Mari and Claire. "Ms. Britain and Ol' Claire, I like to see if you are...interested in something?"

"Aw jeez, not this wanker cunt", Mari whispered to Claire in an irritated tone.

"Oh, don't worry about Kristina. She may be...a bit of a egotistical control freak, but once you get to know her, she's a pretty cool cat", Claire whispered back.

"Ah...okay. I'll play along with this bollocks. Shall be interesting what she has in store", Mari whispered back in response. She then asked DesuLoli "So...what do you want from us, Ms. Loli?"

"I...WANT TO INTERVIEW YOU!", DesuLoli yelled at Mari while exposing a shit eating grin on her face.

"Hmmmm...absolutely! I would toootally do an interview for you, Ms. Loli", Mari replied, showing off a devious grin of her own.

"Great!", DesuLoli replied in satisfaction.

Her gal pal Natsumi, who is the one that has a place for DesuLoli to stay in and is DesuLoli's new camera operator ever since Jarvis' demise, walks up to DesuLoli and asks her, "Kristina, do we really have to do an interview NOW?"

DesuLoli then replied back, "Of course, Natsumi. My viewers are probably wondering why me-chan is no where to be found with the lack of new videos, so kamera no junbi o shutoku shi, Natsumi-chan!"

Natsumi then groaned to herself for both having to be ordered around by her friend and that her friend once again slaughtered the Japanese language, followed by replying, "Yes, Kristina-san" and walking towards her car.

DesuLoli then turned her attention back towards Mari and Claire and proceeded to tell them, "Well, you two come with us. I know the right place we can conduct this interview"

* * *

Somewhere nearby in the marsh, a perspective of another is watching the girls, accompanied by some heavily, obviously female breathing being heard in the surrounding, but is not heard by the girls.

This unknown person overlooks the girls. Natsumi then comes in, with the camcorder in her grasps, which cues the girsl, being led by DesuLoli, to go to wherever area DesuLoli is gonna conduct the interview.

After the girls walk out of the view, the unknown person, still with the perspective shown through its eyes, stands up and sneaks towards the direction the girls in a stealthily manner and awaiting to make its next more by hiding in the marsh again in a way where its not noticeable at all.

Inside Old Tokyo, the test run for Jet Alone is nearly ready to commence.

"Shiro, you're ready to activate Jet Alone", an engineer for Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise's Jet Alone project asks.

"Well, you better know what you're doing, Mr. Tokita", Ritsuko adds, trying to sound as convincing as she could as anyone that has to lie to others in order to keep a secret.

"I share the same sentiments", Misato replies, who is acting exactly like Ritsuko in the fibbing department, but in a way that is unique for her.

"Don't worry. Jet Alone's CPU has been programmed for it to not malfunction and turn against it's makers", Shiro replied to both Rits and Misa. He then informs the engineers "Okay, get ready to start our baby. Its TIME!"

* * *

"Well...I suppose that there's no concert tonight for me and the boys", Aoba groaned in disappointment as he was walking through the hallways, which are damped in a grimy gray and rust.

All of a sudden, he stops dead while widening his eyes open in suprise and blurts out, "...Rei?"

He has stopped in front of Rei, who is wearing her plugsuit, synch headset and sporting a cheesy yet slightly nervous grin, while having her arms behind her back and is swaying her body to both the left and the right.

"...What are you doing in your plugsuit? Zero is not ready for operation! Just...explain me why you're in your pilot gear and such.", Aoba informs and asks Rei in confusion.

"Well..., as I was sitting around in the lounge room, wondering where Shinji is, I had this really odd hunch all of a sudden", Rei replied.

"A hunch? What do you mean, Rei?", Aoba replied, sounding a little weirded out by Rei's response.

"I think Unit 01 is going out in action today and since I haven't gotten a piece of the action in a while...can you help me get into Unit 01's plug? I wanna surprise Shinji-kun when he gets into there", Rei replied

"Ummm...damn! You must be really stir crazy to want to do that. We could get caught!", Aoba yelled while sounding concerned at the same time

"Well...we can...sneak our way there", Rei replied back.

"Okay...how exactly will we sneak our way over there?", Aoba replied back, asking Rei.

"I know the perfect way to do it", Rei responded while showing off an impish smirk.

* * *

"Rei...this is so goddamn stupid!", Aoba groaned at Rei in annoyance and astonishment.

"Shhhhh...we're supposed to be stealthy and quiet. Keep your voice down or they'll notice us", Rei replied.

It is then revealed that both Rei and Aoba are crawl sneaking under cardboard boxes, much like how Rei and Mari hid in one when Gendo heard them in the hallway that one time. They are both in the more desolated, poorly lit and messed up areas of HQ, which is also carrying a heavy scent of oil and LCL.

"Well...you be my guess. You go through the hidden entryway to the plug room while I make my way into the command center. Since Misato and Ritsuko are in Old Tokyo, the Ikaris are dining out, Hyuga is out for coffee and Maya...well...whatever the hell she does when its not mission time, I guess we'll be able to get by being undetected, but there's still the engineers and other coworkers out there that could catch us, so we shall be, like you said, be as stealthy and quiet as possible", Aoba informed Rei while whispering.

"Okay, gotcha. Lets continue on", Rei whispered back, in which after she finished what she said, her and Aoba continued sneaking around the dark corners of HQ.

* * *

For the most part, the duo managed to sneak through the hallways and crawlspaces without being caught. However, they suddenly heard footsteps coming from an unknown direction, which caused them to plant down the floor, making them appear to be just plain old cardboard boxes. They also scooted against a wall to further hammer down the illusion.

* * *

As Rei and Aoba kept their illusion up, a dark figure from the direction the sound was here walked into the hallway. It was none other than The Dark One, with the blood red lights from his helmet visor illuminating the area with a eerie, evil and bloodcaked look.

He then stopped near by the cardboard boxes and began to look to the right and to the left.

The red wash from the visors over his eyes are one again covered by an overlayed, overloading amount of text, figures and graphs sprouting in and out in rapid succession as the perspective of his own view takes a good look of the hallway. He then takes a glance at the cardboard boxes, which causes a cluster of text, figures, graphs and such to burst around the boxes.

The Dark One, for a little while, thinks if he should strike at the boxes and the possible things underneath them. However, mug shots of both Rei and Aoba configure in view over the boxes, in which The Dark One then growls to himself "Oh...them", completely drops his decision to attack and decides to just stand there in a sinister, ominous fashion.

* * *

Having no clue if this person coming their way had disappeared or walked off, Rei decides to slightly lift the box up and takes a peak around the room out of sheer curiosity.

All she sees is no one in the room, aside from her and Aoba, who is still hiding in his box. No ominous figures, red lights or anything in that nature at all.

"Aoba. The coast is clear. We shall move on", Rei informed to Aoba, who replied with a simple "Okay"

* * *

The two then continued on, in which we suddenly see that on a nearby corner, The Dark One is hiding by it, looking towards the direction Rei and Aoba are sneaking towards.

He then growls to himself, "Its not my time for take care of you. Not my time. Especially you...Ayanami", and vanishes into the shadows as always, in which Rei and Aoba don't even notice that he was there at all.

As they progressed down the hallway, Aoba asked told Rei "Well, you see that shaft there?"

"Yes.", Rei replied, who is next to Aoba. Both are still under their boxes, sneaking around.

"Well, you have to lose the box and crawl in there. I, on the other hand, will enter this door on our right. That will lead me to the control room. That shaft will lead you to the plug room. I will program the plug entry door for Unit 01 to open up, allowing you in, okay?", Aoba informed Rei and asked her.

"I understand. I'll be awaiting you to do the magic so I can be in the plug", Rei replied, in which after she finished saying her words, she stood up, tossed the cardboard box aside, crouched back on the floor in a crawling positioned and began to crawl her way into the shaft.

* * *

While Rei was crawling into the shaft, Aoba himself stood up and tossed his cardboard box next to the one Rei used. He then pulled out his pair of keys, one of them being the one to unlock the control room door, which is odd considering that a key card is used to get into the main door to the control room, but this other door requires an old fashioned key.

With the key in hand, he walked up to the door, inserted the key into the door knob, unlocked it, opened the door and walked inside the control room. Inside, he walked towards a wall where the power switch for turning on the power for the cranes that pull out the plugs and turned it on.

After seeing the room lighting up, he then told himself "Now I just gotta wair for that crazy girl to show up so I can get her ready for her big surprise for the Ikaris' kid." and proceeded to sit down on one of the leather rolling chairs in the room. He also took a good look out of the glass window that looked into the actual plug room to see if Rei is in there.

* * *

"Gee...this must be how it felt like for Yagumi when she had to sneak in the shaft to avoid being caught by the Demon Lagann", Rei told herself as she crawled her way through the dirty, dusty, cobwebbed filled shaft. She also managed to run into a few spiders, a few mice and, for some reason, two praying mantises. One being eaten by the other.

"Sheesh. Watching that makes me feel hungry for some celery and broccoli", Rei quipped to herself in a sarcastic tone. She then added "Well, I can't keep Aoba waiting" and sped up her pace as she continued to crawl.

Rei then managed to get to the end of the shaft, in which she then took a peak out of it.

She noticed that if she kept crawling, she would have fallen head first into the floor, obviously with disastrous results, so she repositioned herself so she would be able to drop out of the shaft feet first and as safetly as possible.

Rei then dropped down to the floor, in which she took a minor tumble, but did not injure herself in any way. After getting back up, she took a walk around the room, spotting a giant, hand-like crane positioned in the wall and all three plugs stacked next to each other in numerical order in reference to the pilots, not the Evangelion units.

* * *

Aoba, looking out of the glass, saw Rei inside the room. He then lifted a nearby mic on the control board and spoke into it, telling Rei "Okay, you might want to step away from the plugs and plant yourself against a wall. I'm gonna make the crane lift Shinji's plug and set it on the floor so you can get into it"

Rei simply took Aoba's advice and walked towards a wall away from the plugs. After she planted herself back first against the wall, she witnessed the mechanical, arm-like crane come alive and grabbed Shinji's plug, lifting it and setting it on the ground.

After that happened, Rei walked up to the plug and opened the door up. She then carefully stepped inside it and stayed in there. As she sat by Shinji's control pad, she noticed that the plug started to close up, encasing the entire plug to be darkened completely. She also felt it being lifted up back to where it was, making it where the plug was never lifted today in the first place.

"Well, I guess i'll...wait here and see what happens. I hope I wasn't wrong about my hunch", Rei told herself as she sat inside the pitch black plug. Shinji's plug, and waited for whatever was gonna happen next.

* * *

"Okay...Mari. I want you to stand against the brick wall", DesuLoli informed, holding a microphone in hand.

"Uhhhh...what about me?", Claire asked DesuLoli, sounding a bit confused about the situation.

"Here...take this and step to the side for me", DesuLoli replied, pulling out a boom mkie out of the trunk of Natsumi's car and handing it over to Claire.

"What? I'm not being interview?", Claire replied back, sounding disappointed, confused and angry all at the same time.

"You two are gonna take turns, but personally, i'm more interested in Ms. Britain than you right now. Especially since you and I are American and she's British and with her being a Brit in Japan, that really intrigues me the most", DesuLoli responded while grinning.

"Okay...okay, Kristina", Claire griped, in which she then took the boom mike and stepped aside and out of the camcorder's crosshires. After she did so, she then held up the boom mike over DesuLoli and Mari, but where it wasn't caught in the camcorder's crosshires.

DesuLoli then looked at Natsumi, telling her "Natsumi-chan, anata wa junbi ga dekite nani desu ka?" in a somewhat cutesy fashion

However, Natsumi then gave DesuLoli the finger while showing a look of annoyance, which drafted a disappointed sigh from DesuLoli.

DesuLoli then said "Natsumi-chan, are you ready?", which made Natsumi telegraph the "Okay" sign with her hands and a smile of satisfaction on her face.

"Yes I am, Kristina-san", Natsumi replied. She then positioned the camcorder towards DesuLoli and Mari. Mari, in question, is just standing there, awaiting her directions.

DesuLoli then turned her head towards Mari's left ear and whispered to her "Alright Mari..be ready. We're gonna start it pretty soon"

"Okie dokie", Mari replied to what DesuLoli told her and nodded.

DesuLoli then twirled her microphone around, scratched her head and started to count to 10 backwards, in which once she reached five, Natsumi started up the camcorder and when she got to 1, she got into interviewer mode and said "Hi, this DesuLoli here and this is a special episode of 'Subarashii Nippon!', recorded directly in Japan! I am here with a very special guest today. Her name is Mari Illustrious Makinami, is of British-Japanese heritage and has been living here in Japan for several months now". She then turns towards Mari and asks her "So how is it to live here in this beautiful, amazing country full of such great wonders?". She then held the mic up to Mari.

Mari then looked around, rolled her eyes, exhaled then replied, "Well, DesuLoli...for one thing its quite interesting. Especially considering that I live in Tokyo-3, of all places. Some say that Tokyo-2 is a more ideal place to live, but I disgress. Tokyo-3 is great. Just like ol' England, especially Blackpool"

DesuLoli then moved the microphone back towards herself and said "Well...I haven't been to England myself, but I can imagine its a nice place." She then added "Anyways, Mari, since you live here in Japan now, I like to hear what you think of the local culture"

DesuLoli, once again, moved the microphone near Mari, in which she then replied "Local culture? Well, most people here are of the weirdo otaku and fan variety, but I also met some pretty cool people as well, especially the crew of Class 2-A. Awesome folks in there"

Again, DesuLoli moved the mic towards herself and replied "Oh yes. Class 2-A. I myself am a part of that class. Crazy bunch". She then followed that up by saying, "On the topic of the otaku culture, I would like to hear your thoughts on it, since, afterall, 'Subarashii Nippon!' heavily showcases the otaku culture from all around the world aside from Japan and with you being a Brit, I am vastly interested in your thoughts. May you express them to us?"

Like usual, DesuLoli moves the mic towards Mari in which she responsed "Well...i'm not that much of an otaku, to be honest, but I do enjoy anime. Especially Buster Lagann"

All of a sudden, DesuLoli's face twitches in irritation after hearing the world "Buster Lagann" muttered. For a few seconds, it seemed like that DesuLoli was gonna go on an tirade regarding Buster Lagann, an anime she has a massive love/hate relationship with. However, Natsumi telegraphed a "Keep your cool" look with both her face and hand movement, which ultimately led to DesuLoli replied "Well...let's move on, then" and let out a nervous chuckle.

* * *

Somewhere near by, someone or something is watching the interview, waiting to strike. Even though there is heavy female breathing being heard as the person's perspective is watching the girls do their interview, the girls are oblivious to the foreboding doom that's waiting to burst upon them.

* * *

"Well, its doing good so far, Shiro", one of the engineers told Shiro as they all watched Jet Alone doing its thing from a monitor.

"You...well...better be sure you know what you're doing", Ritsuko fibbed at Shiro, keeping in character of the charade Shiro crafted.

"Well of course, Akagi, me and my crew all know the possible dangers and risk Jet Alone and its inner workings could pose for us all, but all in all, its the perfect mech, unlike your unpredictable Evangelions", Shiro chuckled a little. He then winked about both Misato and Ritsuko after saying that, which caused them to grin impishly.

However, an engineer asked Shiro "Ummm...what the hell was that about?"

Shiro responded by nudging the engineer in his left rib with his right shoulder, adding "Oh, its nothing, nothing at all" while showing off a cheeky grin.

* * *

All of sudden, without warning, the lights in the room turn abruptly into a sickening deep red with dark black hues and an ear piercing alarm screeches in the room, causing Shiro to yell in concern "What happened?"

"Apparently, something went wrong with Jet Alone", another engineer replied, winging out a guess to see if that'll satisfy his superior. He then tries to get the monitor working again, which turns on. However, he then sees that Jet Alone is making a complete mess out of the mock-up buildings around it. However, Jet Alone then stopped its wrecking ways and instead set it targets on a nearby portable outhouse.

"Oh no! Daisuke is still in there!", a third engineer shouted out at the sight of Jet Alone honing in its targets on the portable outhouse.

"Well...damn. He's sure gonna get...ummmm...", Shiro replied. He was about to say something witty, but due to the life and death situation Daisuke is facing, he totally skirted away from quibbing the remark.

"You mean...", Misato started to reply, readily wanting to fulfil the discarded quip.

However, Shiro raised his hand and told Misato "No Katsuragi. No quipping for a dead man. Not even today", in which Misato lowered her head and shoulders down in disappointment,

Jet Alone, who took a good look at the portable outhouse like a curious child, slightly crouched down, gazed at it for a while, raised itself back up, took several steps back, then ran at full force towards the portable outhouse and delivered a punt kick, launching the portable outhouse into the sky at a vicious speed, complete with it rotating, until it was far out of sight. Immediately when it did this, everyone inside the command center gasphed in both shock and utter horror over the sight and the possibility that Daisuke's life was cut short. As for the portable outhouse itself, it landed outside of the testing area, though the impact of landing wasn't very kind to both the outhouse and Daisuke.

* * *

"Anyways, Mari, before we wrap this up, I like to ask you one last thing", DesuLoli asked Mari.

She then moved the mic towards Mari, in which she replied "Go ahead. Ask me anything. Heck, i'm all up to gas all day, especially since it can help you give it some rice".

DesuLoli, while still being baffled by Mari's slang, since she had blurted some earlier in the review, responded "I heard that you are an Evangelion pilot. Is that rumor true or is it something that is classified?"

With the mic being held in front of her, Mari rolled her eyes and placed her right finger lightly against her face, thought for a second, twisted her face into a smile, in wich she replied "Well...to be honest..."

* * *

Through the lense of the camcorder, Natsumi had been recording the entire interview in the camera's perspective. However, out of nowhere, a figure cladded in a dirty black trenchcoat, black leather gloves, black pants and worn out black sneakers stepped in front of the camcorder. She then shouted "Hey! Whoever you are, you're ruining the goddamn shot!"

However, the unknown person in black simply docked Natsumi, knocking her and the camcorder down to the grass, in which the disaster unfolded through the eyes of the camcorder as it laid on the grass and dirt.

Claire Phoenix, who witnessed Natsumi being knocked off the ground, immediately dropped the boom mike and dived into action, attempting to stop the intruder. However, the person in black shoved Claire out of the way, leading her to fall down, rolling onto the ground.

Both Mari and DesuLoli were completely caught off-guard by this sudden burst of chaos. While DesuLoli was totally devastated and horrified by this development, thus totally unable to attempt to defend herself, Mari dashed towards the person decked in black and delivered a side kick to its back, which made it stumble a few steps foward. Mari then followed it up with a crescent kick to the figure's head, that not only knocked it down, but also knocked its hat off, revealing a sickly, grotesque road map of scar tissue, malformed flesh and other hideous aspects of the person's bald scalp.

Mari, while taken slightly aback by the sight of the person's freakish exposed head, was not intimidated by the person at all. She hopped on the ground, shouting out "Come on, you goppin', grufty creep! Is that all you got?"

The figure then stood up and turned towards Mari, exposing its nightmarishly disfigured and scarred face, obviously a surviving victim of a horrible fire that left itself distorted and grotesque looking.

Completely tripped out by the sight of the person's face, she then weezed out "Uhhhh...you sure look like a lumpy, saggy bollockbag" in a nervous, yet sarcastic tone.

She then attempted to strike at the disfigured attacker, but was instead given a rather debilitating blow to the stomach, courtesy of the attacker's fist. She gasphed in response to the punch, but before she could do anything else, the attacker delivered another attack, this time a fist to her face, which not only knocked her out cold, but also cracked the right lense of her glasses.

With Mari knocked out, DesuLoli cowered in fear as the attacker approached her. All the attacker did was telegraph a swift right punch in the face that instantly knocked DesuLoli out.

With both DesuLoli and Mari knocked out, the disfigured attacker, revealed to be the Burnt Lady Down the Street, grabbed her black fedora, put it back on, then picked up both DesuLoli and Mari, carrying them each on one shoulder and arm, only to walk away.

* * *

Despite being knocked down to the floor, Claire witnessed the Burnt Lady taking DesuLoli and Mari away. However, it took her a while to regain her balance and to stand up. Realizing the dire, dangerous situation in hand, Claire then ran towards a knocked out Natsumi and shook her, in which she regained her conscious.

"What...what happened, Claire?", Natsumi slurringly asked Claire. "Where is Kristina and Mari?"

"That Burnt Bitch totally knocked 'em out cold and took 'em away!", Claire shouted in frustration.

"What? That was a she?", Natsumi replied in surprise over the fact that the person that totally runied the interview was a woman.

"Yeah, and she took our friends to god knows where she lives. We gotta get some help and save 'em!", Claire yelled at Natsumi while clenching on her shirt.

"How? Do you know someone that can help?", Natsumi asked Claire, thinking that she's sounding a little crazy now.

"My father works for Nerv. I know where he and his buds stay at on their off-hours, so we gotta get their help...NOW!", Claire yelled at Natsumi, once again.

"Okay...okay. We can take my car over their", Natsumi replied.

"Good! You go load up the stuff and once you get in the car...I DRIVE!", Clarie shouted in response.

"Yeah. You know where your daddy is at right now, so you have the honors of getting us there", Natsumi replied.

"Great, but we gotta hurry! God knows what will happen to Kristina and Mari if we dilly dally too long", Claire replied as she made a mad dash to the driver seat door of Natsumi's car and got in. Natsumi, on the other hand, picked up the camcorder, which is surprisingly undamaged by the attack and is still recording. She put it back in its case and set it in the trunk. She then went back and picked up both the microphone and the boom mike, ran back to the car and placed them in the trunk.

* * *

After putting the equipment back, Natsumi got into the front passenger seat of her own car and handed over her keys to Claire, saying "Okay. Take us away!"

"Right on!", Claire yelled, in which she then took the keys, put the car key into the ignition and started the car up. She then followed that up with saying "Now lets get my father's help and kick that Burn Bitch's ass!", shooting the car off towards the city.

* * *

Still inside Unit 01's plug, Rei sat alone in the darkness, awaiting for something to happen. However, her waiting was over, as she felt the plug being lifted again.

"Well, I guess my hunch was right. Shinji-kun's gonna be coming any second now", Rei told herself.

However, as the seconds passed by, she felt the plug shaking and sliding into some metal, only to hear a muffled locking sound after the screeching of metal against metal.

"Ummmm...no Shinji-kun?", Rei told herself, sounding astonished by that her fellow EVA pilot has not arrived in his own EVA yet.

A few seconds of just silence happened, but was then shattered by some massive shaking in the plug, only made worse by that Rei was entirely encased in pure darkness.

"What the hell is going on? Is Unit 01 being...air lifted?", Rei shouted to herseld, clueless of the situation.

However, she was totally right. Evangelion Unit 01 was being airlifted by a plane piloted by Hyuga.

* * *

"This is Hyuga. Misato, can you hear me?", Hyuga radioed to Misato.

"Yes I can. You got Unit 01?", Misato asked Hyuga

"Affirmative. I also got its pilot, Shinji Ikari, by my side", Hyuga replied. Shinji is seen, dressed in his plugsuit and wearing his synch headset, sitting opposite Hyuga in the plane.

"Great. Once you get to Old Tokyo, tell him he'll only have five minutes to stop Jet Alone and get him inside his EVA. Once he's inside, drop Unit 01 off at the test site. All Shinji needs to do is eliminate Jet Alone at all costs", Misato replied back.

"But isn't Jet Alone powered by nuclear power? Wouldn't that be a disaster for Unit 01 to eradicate Jet Alone?", Hyuga asked, sounding vastly concerned.

"Don't worry about that. All he needs to do is destroy Jet Alone. No questions asked. Just that, okay?", Misato ordered.

"Okay, Katsuragi. I'll tell him that", Hyuga replied.

* * *

Still inside Unit 01, Rei had slid towards the piloting chair, quipping "This...is...bullshit", again still being encased in pure darkness as Unit 01 and its pilot are being airlifted to Old Tokyo to stop Jet Alone.

* * *

"Well, as I can remember, I met the star of Neurotic Genetical Evolution a few years back. Quite a cocky son of a bitch, but funny as hell", Agent Smith, while holding a mug of beer, told his fellow coworkers, Agent Will and Argo Phoenix, whom are all inside a tavern.

"Heh. I hope you didn't get on his case on The Maimtrix. I was supposed to be in it, but contractual issues screwed me over. Hell, to be honest, I could've done a damn fine better job than his boring ass self", Agent Will responded, which enticed laughter from his buddies.

"Speaking of The Maimtrix, that Agent Smits character bore an uncanny resemblance to myself. In fact, that's how I ran into Kenneth in the first place. He saw me, not the other way around", Smith replied.

"Well, you two and your stories. Always the most amusing of things", Argo told both Agent Will and Agent Smith, in which he then took a swig of beer and chugged it down.

* * *

All of a sudden, Claire and Natsuimi darted through the tavern doors and ran towards Argo, Will and Smith.

"Claire...what are you doing here?", Argo asked his daughter, being surprised by the worried, tense look in Claire's face.

"This burnt bitch had kidnapped both a friend of mine and Mari Makinami", Claire informed her father in a panicked tone.

"The pilot of EVA Unit 05 has been taken hostage? Shit!", Argo shouted in response "Boys, we need to get there...NOW!"

"Ummm...but where the hell could this...burnt bitch be...wait...could this be in connection to the recent murders?", Agent Will replied, initially being unsure, but then began to theorize that the recent murders and this kidnapping could be connected.

"Possibly", Agent Smith added in response.

"Anyways, we don't got much time", Argo told the two agents. He then turned towards his daughter and Natsumi and told them "You two come with us", which resulted in all five walking out of the tavern and towards a Nerv-issued bulletproof armored van.

* * *

While the others got in, Argo himself stood outside and pulled out his cellphone. He then lifted it up and told himself "Better tell the Commander about such developments"

* * *

Inside darkened room, Gendo and Yui laid in a bed, with Gendo's head and arms visible while all we could see of Yui was her head, due to the bedsheets. A nearby phone on a stool rang, which resulted in him picking it up.

"This Gendo Ikari speaking. What is your business?", Gendo spoke into the phone as he remained in bed.

"This is Argo. I got the word from my daughter that this burnt person kidnapped the pilot of Unit 05 and another girl", Argo informed Gendo.

"Oh...that person. I know her location. All you need to do is drive to the outskirts of Tokyo-3 and look for this ramshacked house in the woods. That's where she is and once you get there, eliminated her without hesitation", Gendo ordered Argo.

"Yes sir. I'll get back to you after we have dealt with the problem", Argo replied, then hung up the phone.

* * *

Gendo then set the phone back on its receiver. However, Yui then asked him "Honey, what was the call about?"

"Just business as usual, but its being taken cared of", Gendo replied. He then turned towards Yui and asked her "So you wanna go a second round before heading back to HQ?"

* * *

Mari, inside a darkened room, began to regain her conscious. As she began to look through the room, she noticed two things: 1. One of the lenses of her glasses is cracked and 2. The room is full with christian paraphernalia on the walls.

"What kind of a nutter freak this crispy cream wacko is?", Mari questioned herself.

Right next to her, she saw DesuLoli regain conscious as well, asking Mari "Wha...what happened, Mari?"

"I guess we have been...taken hostage", Mari replied with the best response she could muster.

* * *

All of a sudden, the Burnt Lady had entered the room the girls are in, holding a rusty, bloodstained butcher knife in hand. She then said "So I see that you little sinners are awake now. Aren't you both ready for your cleansing from me, your savior?"

"What kind of bollocks are you talking about?", Mari questioned the Burnt Lady.

However, the Burnt Lady walked towards Mari and put the knife lightly against Mari's neck, telling her in a morose tone "The thing is, you keep on sinning every day, so that's why i'm here. To remove the evil from you all and send you both to our god and savior"

"Ugh, a religious nut. I hate these nutters", Mari told herself. She then fibbed "Okay, ma'am. We will do what your told...just don't get hasty on us"

The Burnt Lady shifted her eyes in both directions, then replied "You think you can redeem yourselves in that tainted flesh?"

"Oh yeah, we can", Mari replied with strong sense of confidence in her voice.

DesuLoli was about reply to Mari, but before she could open her mouth, Mari placed her left hand over DesuLoli's mouth and whispered to her "We can't afford you getting us killed..especially me.", in which DesuLoli simply nodded in response amd Mari pulled her hand away from DesuLoli's mouth.

"So...my little sinners...you wanna learn the ways of Jesus?", the Burnt Lady asked the girls in a gravelly tone.

Mari simply displayed a shit-eating grin and replied "Of course"

* * *

Still inside Unit 01's darkened cockpit/plug, Rei sat patiently, pondering herself "Seriously..whatever is going on has to be very interesting"

All of a sudden, a burst of light broke through the darkness and the actual pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, Shinji Ikari, was standing in front of the open entryway to the cockpit. All he could say was "...Ayanami? What you doing in here?"

Looking a bit embarrassed, Rei replied "Ummm...I wanted to surprise you."

"Well..okay..but how long were you in here?", Shinji asked Rei, sounding very concerned for his co-pilot's safety.

"Longer than I should have, but i'm okay", Rei replied and admitted.

"Well, since we're both in here, Unit 01 is gonna be dropped down to take on this thing called Jet Alone and eliminate it under Misato's orders", Shinji informed Rei.

"Jet Alone? What is that? Some Jet Jaguar wannabe?", Rei asked Shinji.

"I dunno. Anyways, I need to get into my pilot center", Shinji kindly informed Rei.

"Oh...sorry", Rei replied, in which she then moved out the way, allowing Shinji to get to his piloting center in the cockpit. Once he sat down, the plug got dark again, which was followed up with some inner stored LCL being pumped through the plug, proceeded by the usual LSD show and the actual view of Unit 01 surfacing in front of Shinji's piloting center.

Rei then walked up towards the rear of Shinji's piloting center chair and stood there behind it, looking from being.

"Shinji. You're in Unit 01 now?", Misato's voice asked, coming out of a speaker inside Unit 01..

"Yes. I am ready for combat, Misato", Shinji replied.

Misato then added and asked "I also notice a slight anomaly with the syncing. Is someone else in there?"

Rei then replied 'Its me, Katsuragi. I'm in here too"

"Ayanami! How did you get in there?", Misato, sounding marginally irritated, asked Rei.

"Ummm...I snuck my way into here. That's how", Rei replied.

"...oookay. Anyways, we got more important matters. Shinji needs to stop Jet Alone, so don't distract him, okay?", Misato replied.

"I sure won't", Rei replied.

"Okay. Anyways, Shinji...good luck", Misato told Shinji, in which she then cut off her communication. At the same time, Unit 01 was let go of being airlifted into Jet Alone's test grounds in Old Tokyo.

Shinji took control of Unit 01, making it land on the ground without stumbling and falling down.

* * *

Jet Alone, who took notice of Unit 01, stepped aside from its wrecking orgy and instead targeted its crosshires on Unit 01.

"Uh oh...I think it wants us to play", Rei muttered in response of seeing Jet Alone turn towards Unit 01.

"Ayanami, don't distract me, please. We can talk after we get this out of the way. I don't need to run away right now", Shinji replied.

However, Jet Alone, not one to be patient, ran full burst towards Unit 01 with malicious intent.

"Shinji! Watch OUT!", Rei screamed in concern as Jet Alone ran towards Unit 01.

* * *

"Kid, don't destroy Jet Alone. You'll kill us all!", an engineer griped at the sight of Jet Alone racing towards a standing Unit 01 via the monitor inside the command center.

* * *

However, all Shinji could do was making Unit 01 deliver a right punch at Jet Alone right before it could actually bull rush it.

The punch itself ripped right into Jet Alone, but rather than causing a nuclear meltdown, a sludge-color liquid and some scrap metal bursted came flying as a result, with the liquid hitting Unit 01 and Jet Alone itself falling down back first, with more of the liquid spewing out of the downed and trashed Jet Alone.

"What the hell?", Rei yelled in surprise in reaction to seeing the liquid coming out of Jet Alone.

"Ayanami, I got no clue what that is, but it sure looks awfully familiar", Shinji replied.

* * *

"Shiro...what in god's name is that liquid? It sure isn't nuclear waste", an engineer yelled at Shiro in response to seeing the liquid flowing out of Jet Alone.

Shiro bursted out in laughter, in which he then explained "Well...I never made Jet Alone nuclear powered. What I did instead was make it fueled by the one and only Coca Cola"

"Coca Cola? You mean that our big project was fueled by soda pop? What kind of idiot are you, Shiro?", another engineer yelled at Shiro.

All of a sudden, Misato and Ritsuko began to burst into laughter too, which caused a major sense of unease among all of the engineers.

"Did you...set us up on purpose to ruin us, Shiro?", a third engineer asked Shiro.

"No no no. Not you guys", Shiro replied. "I wanted to mess up that bastard Mochizuki and show him that I am sick of his manipulative ways and that I quit"

"Shiro...you're leaving the company?", a forth engineer asked Shiro.

"Yeah...but we can still keep in contact", Shiro replied, patting his hand on the engineer's left shoulder.

* * *

"You two better promise me that you strictly follow the word of god and preach the message. If I see you two sinning, you will both be sorry", the Burnt Lady sternly informed both Mari and DesuLoli.

"Okay, ma'am. We'll do what we're told", Mari replied.

* * *

All of a sudden, Argo, Agent Will and Agent Smith burst in, armed with 9mms. Argo shouted at both Mari and DesuLoli "GET DOWN!", in which Mari forced DesuLoli down as she crouched onto the floor.

The Burnt Lady took notice of Argo's voice, turned around and faced the agents, with knife in hand. However, the trio opened fire on her, causing a variety of 9mm bullets to hit her, causing some blood to spill out of her wounds and her body to violently shake when the impact of the bullets hit.

* * *

Eventually, they all emptied their clips on the Burnt Lady, who had fallen down to her floor, wounded and shot up by the barrage of bullets.

Argo then shouted "You two can get up. You are safe now" at both Mari and DesuLoli.

Claire and Natsumi ran into the building, in which they spotted Mar iand DesuLoli. Claire, in particular, shouted "Are you two okay?"

Mari replied "Well, I need a new glasses lense, but i'm okay. As for DesuLoli here...she'll be okay"

"Alright, you all..let's go", Argo ordered at everyone.

"Uhhhh...what about the body? We just can't leave that crazy bitch here. She could get up and kill again!", Agent Will shouted.

"Don't worry about her. She won't be a threat to us anyome.", Argo replied, in which after he finished what he said, all of the them left the shack, leaving the Burnt Lady's bleeding body alone.

* * *

Shuichi Mochizuki, aka the Big Cheese and CEO of Sūpā Tawagoto Enterprise, had arrived at the test site of the now-destroyed Jet Alone, displeased that Shiro, one of his top men, had backstabbed him. He stepped inside the command center, saw Shiro and yelled "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?"

Shiro, who saw Mochizuki, walked up to him, grinned and shouted "I QUIT!", only to storm out of the command center, with Misato and Ritsuko following them.

* * *

Still inside Unit 01, Rei told Shinji "Well...that was rather...anticlimatic"

Shinji replied "I guess"

However, they both saw multiple heavy duty helicopters fly by, all airlifting a giant crate with the words "JA-P" written on it

"What could that be?", Shinji asked Rei.

"Something big, I suppose", Rei replied.

All of a sudden, they felt Unit 01 being lifted into the air, with Rei saying "Well, I guess back to HQ, then"

"Yeah...crazy day its been", Shinji replied. "I wonder how Mari is doing?"

"She's alright. She knows how to take care of herself", Rei replied "I think we'll see her at HQ"

* * *

At HQ, Shiro, Gendo, Yui, Ritsuko, Misato, Aoba, Hyuga, Rei, Shinji and Mari are all standing inside a large, spare room, in front of the large crate.

"Gee...I wonder what's inside?", Mari asked

"Hey Mari! Who was your day...and what happened to your glasses?", Rei asked Mari

"Its a long story. I'll tell you tomorrow", Mari replied. "Right now, I wanna see what's in the crate"

* * *

Shiro then stood in front of them all, sayng "As you all might have heard, the Jet Alone tested off was made from mainly garbage sources with very little casb put in. This, on the other hand, is where all the funding was put into."

* * *

The crate began to open, with Shiro shouting "I am proud to introduce you all to...JET ALONE PRIME!"

* * *

Once the crate was open, a sturdier, better built version of Jet Alone was revealed, with a red and yellow paint tone and a hammer in a holster. Shiro then pulled out a remote and pressed a button that turned it on.

"WHAT'CHA GONNA DO? WHEN JET ALONEMANIA RUNS WILD ON YOU!", a mechanized voice, sounding a lot like famous wrestler Hulk Hogan shouted out.

"Oh dear. You gotta be kidding me", Yui groaned.

"Well...at least Mari's got a promotion now", Gendo replied

"You...you mean?", Mari shouted in surprise

"Yes. You are promoted for full active pilot duty now. No more underground watch.", Gendo replied

"YES! This is GREAT! HERE I COME, ANGELS...TO KICK YOUR ARSES!", Mari yelled in joy.

"Gee, this is...such a surprise", Shinji told Rei.

"Yeah...but you noticed something?", Rei replied.

"What, Ayanami?", Shinji replied

"Lt. Ibuki is a no-show", Rei replied back.

* * *

Inside the ramshacked home in the woods, the Burnt Lady is laying in a pool of her own blood, hanging onto whatever vitality she has left, coughing out blood and writing on the floor.

* * *

The tell-tale sign of red wash from a set visors over someone's eyes, often covered by an overlayed, overloading amount of text, figures and graphs, take a good look at the dying woman on the floor.

It is none other than The Dark One, who decided to pay the Burnt Lady a visit.

He then picked her up, began to wail on her and thrash her around the room, eventually knocking her hat off and placing his right hand over her head.

He then began to dig his fingers into her skull, causing a massive load of blood to pour out. With all of his strength and might, he ripped a great portion of the Burnt Lady's skull off, causing a massive splash of blood, brain matter and skull fragments to fly out, thus killing the Burnt Lady instantly.

Her mostly faceless corpse fell down on the floor, while the Dark One dropped the parts he ripped off onto another side of the floor. He then growled out "Only I can kill anyone around here...bitch!", and disappeared into the darkness of the night, leaving a completely mangled, bullet ridden and faceless corpse in the house for an unsuspecting person to discover.

* * *

_**NEXT SEASON!**_

_A new pilot joins Nerv, more angels invade Tokyo-3, a life is lost, a new competition for the Evangelions surface and the plot thickens as Season 2 of Ayanami: Vengeance kicks up things a notch._

_The stakes are higher, the relationships deepen, the competition thickens, the threats become more dangerous...oh...and more fan service too!_


	23. Chapter 22: Asuka Strikes!

**Chapter 22: Asuka Strikes!

* * *

**

_Two weeks have passed since Shiro Tokita had joined Nerv, Jet Alone Prime had taken over Mari's position, Mari's promotion and the death of the Burnt Lady, which ended her reign of terror._

_All was well in Tokyo-3 since, with things being the usual, such as school, the pilots' frequent synch tests and combat training, DesuLoli annoying her fellow classmates, Rei jamming with Aoba, Maya being late to her duties, Jet Alone Prime talking to itself, Mari pulling off the occasional prank on her fellow pilots, Aoba and Hyuga arguing over movies they watch and the completion of Unit 00's new armor._

_However...something is about to shake things up.

* * *

_

"Attention everyone, especially the Evangelion pilots. Please report to the screening room immediately!", a voice from the loudspeaker announced to all in Nerv HQ.

"Looks like they want us now. Guess its something big", Mari quipped. She had been taking off her plugsuit, since she and her fellow EVA pilots had another routine synch test.

"I suppose", Shinji replied, who was less enthusiastic and more neutral about this news. He was behind another curtain, changing out of his plugsuit as well.

"Well, Shinji...you never know what it could be, though as I recall, Commander Ikari said that The Second would be moving here in two weeks and since its been two weeks since he informed that, the Second could very well be coming here today", Rei added, who, like Shinji and Mari, is changing out of her plugsuit and into her street clothes.

"Ah...that's right. Since The Second is coming down, that could mean...", Mari replied.

"Kaji could be back", Rei replied back. "I haven't seen his face in a while, so it would be cool to have him around again"

"Yeah. I do miss Kaji too", Mari responded.

"Attention! Rei Ayanami, Shinji Ikari and Mari Illustrious Makinami, get your asses down here now! I will not repeat myself again. You three are especially required to be here immediately", the voice on the speakerbox spoke, sounding extremely irritated.

"I guess we got to not keep them waiting any more", said Rei

"Yeah. A load of bollocks, but we gotta go anyways", Mari replied

"Yeah", Rei replied back.

All Shinji did was remain quiet.

* * *

With all three pilots back in their street clothes, they walked out of the changing room and ran towards the screening room to get there as fast as they can, with their feet and the velocity causing a sound of metal clanging to accompany their running.

* * *

As they arrived in the darkened screening room, they see that everyone else that works for Nerv is pretty much there. Most surprisingly Lt. Maya Ibuki, who is not late like usual.

"Ah. There you are. Come inside. You need to see this", Yui informed the pilots while waving at them.

"Yes, mother. We're all here", Shinji replied, while slightly grinning at her.

"Well, you three take a seat and we'll get started", Gendo informed them.

All three kids nodded and sat down on nearby metal chairs.

Shinji sat by his parents, while Rei and Mari sat next to each other, though on Rei's side sat Maya, who told Rei "Surprised to see that you wanted to sit by me" and smiled at her.

Rei, who heard Maya tell something to her, looked at her and replied "Well...you're welcome"

Maya then took a look at Rei and told her "Well...we shall see what could be shown. I'm excited"

"Uh huh", Rei replied while nodding her head in response.

Gendo told everyone "Quiet, everyone. Before we start this 'video', i'll give you a bit of background on it. As most of you might know, a few months ago, Ryoji Kaji had left Japan to go to Tokyo-3 to watch over The Second Child until she was required to come over here. Well, since The Second is arriving here, it is for us, especially the pilots, to get a glimpse of her piloting skills in action. Thanks for Kaji, we were able to retrieve a recording of Unit 02 in action against Gaghiel, the Sixth Angel."

"Wait a second...the sixth angel was taken cared of already?", Mari yelled in surprise and irritation over that another angel had sprouted, only she wasn't able to actually fight it under circumstances out of her hands, as well as Rei's and Shinji's..

"Affirmative. I am sorry about that, but she had no choice to eliminate the angel, despite not being by Tokyo-3. Just be glad that there's one less angel to worry about, Makinami", Gendo replied.

Mari then slumped into her metal chair, grunting "Damn it!", to herself.

Rei then patted Mari on the back and calmfully told her "Don't worry, Mari. You'll get your chance. There's plenty more angels left"

"Anyways", Gendo resumed "start up the footage."

* * *

The screening room got darker and the projector lit up, playing the recorded footage Nerv received.

* * *

"Well...this is Ryoji Kaji speaking. I am on board the aircraft carrier Over the Rainbow. An angel has been spotted around the ocean. Evangelion Unit 02 and its pilot has been dispatched to take care of it", spoke Kaji in the rather shaky and amateurish, guerilla filmmaking-style footage, who's face can be seen in the video, with a bright, blue ocean landscape visible behind him.

A bunch of voices in the background started to shout, which caused Kaji to turn the camcorder towards a different direction. It immediately set its crosshires on a giant, red Evangelion unit, standing on a large platform and with what appeared to be a giant white cape wrapped around it.

"She's gonna jump!", shouted a random voice from offscreen as Unit 02 set it arms away from its body.

It then let itself fall down face first, in which rather than flying or even doing any fancy stuntwork, it simply landed hard on a battleship nearby, causing an eruption of water to splash onto the aircraft carrier.

"Dammit Asuka! They're gonna kill us both if you mess up your Evangelion too badly", Kaji yelled at the Evangelion in a half irritated, half worried tone.

"Sorry Kaji. I promise I won't do that again. Especially for you", a young female voice with a noticeable german accent replied through the Evangelion's speaker sysetm with a rather cutesy tone in her voice. It then stood back up, overdramatically ripped off the cape, and began to run towards another battleship nearby.

The Evangelion then jumped into the air and then landed feet first on the battleship in a way where it became a surfboard.

"She's sure ridin' that battleship. I hope she won't sink it", another disembodied voice shouted out in disbelief.

"Its like a friggin' surfboard to her for god's sake!", yet another voice from an unseen person shouted out.

Kaji once again moved the camcorder around to follow the battleship surfing Evangelion, which then went by a third battleship and ripped off an antenna to use it like a harpoon.

The camcorder then caught a glimpse of a whale-like being swimming through the ocean like a shark. It then noticed that Unit 02, on its battleship surfboard, was following it and decided to turn around and face itself in front of Unit 02.

Without warning, the whale-like being dived out of the water, revealing itself to be Gaghiel, the Sixth Angel.

Unit 02, acting in a split-second, jumped in the air towards Gaghiel and grabbed a hold of it. However, the angel's strength would not permit Unit 02 to pushed it backwards. Instead, the angel, with Unit 02 holding onto it, went towards the aircraft carried, causing both of them to land on top of it and a rupture of water to splash from beneath.

With the antenna/makeshift harpoon in hand, Unit 02 managed to get itself on top of Gaghiel and began to violently stab it with the makeshift harpoon, causing blood to splash everywhere, including Kaji and his camcorder, which temporarily turned the screen into a blood red hue.

The blood then slivered off the camcorder, revealing Unit 02 to grotesquely rip the angel apart, causing entrails and blood to fly everywhere. Unlike when Rei and Unit 00 slaughtered Sachiel, the body movement of Unit 02 suggested that its pilot was in full control.

"Heh...well this turned into such a...nasty mess. Anyways, i'll see you there, Commander. I sure like to see my favorite pilot Rei Ayanami again", Kaji talked into the camcorder. "This is Ryoji Kaji, signing out".

* * *

The footage then cut to blue, signaling that there is no more footage on the mini DVD-R, which led to the projector to being turned off and the room lights being brightened.

* * *

"Well, that was..interesting", Rei spoke, speaking her mind about her thoughts on the footage she and the others witness. "This is gonna be our new co-pilot, right?"

"Affirmative. Even though she and Kaji are expected to be here today, I haven't heard from Kaji since earlier this morning.", Gendo replied. "Anyways, you are all excused"

"Seriously, I really wonder what this 'new' pilot is like in person", Rei spoke out as she, Mari and Shinji are exiting HQ.

* * *

"Judging by her piloting skills, she seems like a real cocky cunt", Mari replied, sounding like she's totally unimpressed by the new pilot's skills displayed in the video.

"Well...maybe she's only like that while piloting. She could be very nice in person", Shinji added, sounding more optimistic than the girls.

They then exited HQ, only to be confronted by Toji, Kensuke and Claire, who are all standing by a car outside HQ's entrance .

"Hey, you three. Wanna stop by the mall and play some games?", Kesuke asked the trio facing his trio

"Yeah. Got nothing else to do today", Rei replied, in which Mari and Shinji nodded in response.

"Yeah. I'll sure kick your asses at some Marvel Vs. Capcom 2", Toji boasted while pumping his arms up and down in a bodybuilder-like fashion.

"Oh really, Suzuhara? You ain't seen nothing yet", Rei replied, telegraphing a impish grin to Toji.

Mari saw Claire there and asked her "Say...where is our friendly neighborhood American otaku DesuLoli?"

"Kristina? She's busy editing together her new video to upload tonight", Claire replied. She then took a look at the others and asked them "Are you all ready? I got enough room for you all"

Everyone else nodded in response and got in the car.

* * *

When Rei got in, she asked Claire "So...when did you get your car?"

"Father gave it to me for helping to save Kristina and Mari's lives", Claire replied.

"That's nice", Rei replied as she seated herself and put on a nearby seatbelt.

After she said that, the car drove off to the city.

* * *

"Dammit Baraka! Stop kicking my ass!", an angry, irritated young female voice with a noticeable german accent yelled at and stomped on a Mortal Kombat II arcade cabinet. She was playing as Mileena and the PC of the game was Baraka, completely owning her.

"FINISH HER!", a voice in the game, in which Baraka then uppercutted Mileena, which caused her to fall into a nearby pool of acid, reducing her into a sickly green-tinted skelton and a voice akin to Elvis Presley shouted "Aw Man!"

"Sie Arschloch!", the girl screamed, in which she began to violently pound and beat on the arcade cabinet.

* * *

"Okay. You guys all go and play your games. I, on the other hand, will check out the gunshop", Claire informed her friends as they all stood in front of the entryway to the arcade.

"See you later, Claire!", the others all replied in unison and waved as she walked away towards the direction of the gunshop.

* * *

After Claire walked away, Rei then told Toji "Alright, Suzuhara...show me what you got", while giving him an impish girl

"Oh yeah, Rei. I sure will", Toji replied, in which all six kids then made their way into the arcade room.

* * *

Inside the darkly lit arcade, they spotted a redhead girl in a yellow sundress, getting incredibly pissed at a Mortal Kombat II arcade cabinet.

"Man...she's got a real attitude problem", Toji muttered at the sight.

"No kidding", Mari replied. "In fact, her voice sounds oddly familiar"

"Yeah", Rei replied back. "Can't quite put my finger on why, though"

All of a sudden, the redhead turned her head around and saw the group standing in a distance by here.

"What do you all want?", she shouted at them.

"Say...you seem to be having an awful lot of trouble there. Mind if we help?", Rei asked her in a kindly tone

"No thanks, dummkopf", she replied back, with her german accent being even more apparent than before.

"Seriously, don't be a total sore loser...no...actually, I think you kinda suck at that game", Toji responded, taking a swing at the redhead's gaming skills

"Yeah...might as well fight each other in Mortal Kombat rather than Marvel Vs. Capcom 2", Rei added. She then looked at the redhead and asked her "May you step away and let the real pros play?"

* * *

Instead of doing that, the redhead instead backed herself into the arcade cabinet, with her arms extended over it and yelled "No way, you bakas! I wanna do this all by myself. Do find another game!"

While everyone else backed away, Mari stayed put, in which she then walked towards the redhead and sternly told her "I am not one to take any bollocks. Especially from your types"

Taken aback from what Mari said, the redhead replied "Ooohhh, you think that I just fight and stoßesel in silly video games? Oooh no, I can treten Sie Ihren Esel any time" in a very cocky tone.

Thinking for a second, Mari then thought of something, then proceeded to ask the redhead "Say...aren't you...an Evangelion pilot?"

"That's none of your business!", the redhead replied.

"Well..back in HQ, me and two of my friends here, who are fellow Evangelion pilots, watched a video of a red Evangelion in action and according to our Commander, the Evangelion and its pilot are supposed to arrive here today, and since none of us ever seen you around here, i'm just wonder if YOU are the pilot of Evangelion Unit 02", Mari replied back.

Getting increasingly frustrated by what Mari was telling her, the redhead then got into a fighting pose and yelled, "Like I said, baka...NONE. OF. YOUR. BUSINESS!", while delivering a high kick at Mari.

* * *

Mari, rather than getting hit, ducked and rolled out of the way, which caused the redhead to kick a nearby guy, who was playing a Tekken 4 arcade cabinet, knocking him down in the process.

The guy, revealed to be a Titus of Final Fantasy X cosplay, stood up and whined "Hey! What kind of babe hits people for no reason", while pointing his finger at the redhead.

"Oh, that wasn't direct at you", the redhead replied in an embarrassed, worried and apologetic tone.

* * *

Out of of nowhere, three more cosplayer dudes sprang out of nowhere. One being a rather skinny guy cosplaying as Mai Shiranui, who's facial features are rather effeminate and has pillows tucked in his dress to appear to be breasts, the second being a Zangief cosplayer and the third wearing a Stormtrooper uniform.

The Stormtrooper stepped up to both Mari and the redhead and shouted at them "You bitches mess with our friend, we mess with you!", which caused the other two cosplayers to get into a fighting position, while the Titus cosplayer stood back up, despite having a slight cut on his head.

Rei, looking at the potential brawl, told her friends "We can't afford to fight right down. Let's go!" and started to push them out of the arcade

"What about Makinami!", Shinji shouted at Rei in a concerned tone.

"Don't worry, she can take care of herself. She's a better fighter than I am", Rei nodded and smiled in response, in which she successfully got her and her friends out of the arcade, in which they all took a run for it.

* * *

"Look at what you did, baka!", the redhead yelled at Mari in an angry tone.

"Me? You're the one that swung at me and hit that lame brain. You got US in trouble, not me", Mari shouted at the redhead in response.

"Ooooh, we doon't caare whooo started what fiirssst. I jussst want toooo fiiiight someoneee", the male Mai cosplayer disgustingly and seductively spoke at both the redhead and Mari while licking his lips and teeth. This caused both the redhead and Mari to telegraph repulsed looks.

However, being the hothead she's been so far, the redhead got fed up with the Mai cosplayer and simply scissor kicked him in the head, causing him to land on the floor hard.

"Get 'em!", the Titus cosplayer screamed, causing his other standing cosplayer friends, including himself, to dash towards the two girls.

"We'll deal with our own problems later, but right now, we got some bollocks to kick right now", Mari told the redhead

"Suit youself, baka!", the redhead replied, in which she then superkicked the Stormtrooper in the head right into an air hockey board.

The Mai cosplayer then got back up, pulled out a pair of oriental fans and ran towards Mari, who saw the cosplayer and delivered a jumping kick, in which caused the Mai cosplayer to fly into a Power Instinct arcade cabinet after the kick telegraphed. She then took a look at the cosplayer and told him "You're waaaay too ugly to even be a cute guy"

The Zangief cosplayer then stomped his way towards the redhead who's standing back first in front of him, who yawned in unamusement and delivered a swift kick in the nuts that totally made him immobile and fall onto the ground, writhing in agony while clutching his crotch.

Realizing that he's screwed, the Titus cosplayed back away from both girls in absolute fear. "You...you kids...go easy on me...kay?"

However, both Mari and the redhead grinned and nodded their heads in unison and proceeded to lay the smackdown on the cosplayer, which consisted of many kicks, punches and double team attacks, which even caused some blood and teeth to be knocked out of the cosplayer.

Once they got through with him, he stood slumped, with his head and eyes rolling around, until he fell down on the floor, face first.

The redhead then looked at Mari, telling her "We sure make a good team...but since you're a total dummkopf, we'll face each other, one on one, two days from now."

Mari then replied "Sure thing, you german nutter. I sure love to take your arse down anytime."

The redhead suddenly realized something, in which she told Mari "Anyways, I gotta go. Sweet Kaji told me that he needed me to be at the headquarters by this time."

Hearing her mutter Kaji's name, Mari then shouted "You know Kaji? See, I know who you are"

However, before Mari could finish, the redhead raised her open hand up to Mari's face, replying "Gespräch zur hand, baka!", and running out of the somewhat trashed arcade as fast as she could, leaving Mari alone.

* * *

Realizing that she's alone, Mari told herself "Aw crap, I better go. Don't want the coppers to think I did this myself", and ran out of the arcade as well.

* * *

Back at home and later that day, Rei was watching the movie "Game of Death" on her television. However, she then heard her cellphone ringing and answered it.

"Hello?", Rei answered.

"Hey, this is Mari. So you're back home?", Mari asked Rei.

"Yeah. So did you made it out in one piece?", Rei replied asking.

"Totally. Me and that redhead sure made a mess of the place, but we took care of it. However..she wants to challenge me to a fight, one on one", Mari replied back.

"Jeez. I wonder who she is anyways? Whatever, its getting late, i'll see you tomorrow at school", Rei replied back.

"Same here. Bye", Mari replied and hung up.

Rei then hung up her phone, turned off the TV and went to bed.

* * *

_**The Next Day

* * *

**_

Rei, dressed in her old school uniform, had gotten herself ready for school and got out of the door, only to find Mari and Shinji standing in front of it outside.

"Mari? Shinji? What are you both doing here?", Rei asked them.

"Well...Misato and Ms. Ikari asked me if I could pick Shinji up. They both told me that there were very busy...installing and loading something into HQ, so here we are", Mari replied while grinning.

Shinji then quietly muttered, "Hi Ayanami."

"Hi Shinji", Rei replied. She then added "Okay..let's go", and all three left for school.

* * *

At school, all three kids arrived, in which Toji and Kensuke greeted them, in which they greeted back and all sat down.

* * *

About a minute passed in which they noticed something odd standing in front of the chalkboard.

A redhead girl dressed in the standard issue female school uniform, wearing what appeared to be red hairclips in her hair.

"Who is that?", Rei asked Mari.

"Well...I really doubt its..", Mari replied.

However, before she could reply, the redhead turned aroud, revealing to be the same redhead they all met at the arcade yesterday, causing major groans and shocked, disturbed looks to appear on Rei, Mari, Shinji, Toji and Kensuke's faces.

"Hi. I'm Asuka Langely Soryu. Nice to meet you all", the redhead girl introduced herself, exposing a cutesy grin on her face.


	24. Chapter 23: Don't Fear German Redheads

**Chapter 23: (Don't Fear) That Little Red-Haired Girl

* * *

**

Deep in the darkest depths of Nerv HQ, a familiar eerie red light is blaring through the darkness. A giant circular saw of sorts attached to a crane slowly looms over a giant, bloodstained diamond, which is presumed to be the deceased fifth angel Ramiel. Two more cranes, though with giant mechanical hands attached to them, reaches out towards the angel's corpse and holds it down, allowing the saw to cut through it. Large masses of blood splurts out as the saw penetrates the angel's body. The sound of steel grinding flesh and bone screams and echoes through the mysterious section as more blood, the blue, gelatinous flesh and some bone matter spew throughout the area.

After the saw crane stopped and swayed away in all of its dripping blood spattered glory, more cranes anchored down, including some with claws and others with hooks. They all swarmed towards the opening the saw made and started to pull the opened cut apart, in which the cranes with the hands reached into the opening, tearing deep into it and ripping various organs out of the corpse. Eventually, the hands then start tugging on what looks like a biomechanical spear-ish drill spike out of the angel's corpse.

Finally torn out, the cranes with hands then move the blood drenched spike to a platform and sets it down. More cranes and metallic, mechanical gizmos sprout into sight as they pull out various waters and disinfectants on the spike.

* * *

Elsewhere in the same dark, sparse and gloomy monolithic area, a dark titan that resembled an Evangelion is seen slouched on the steel floor. It gets its right arm lifted by some of the same cybernatic cranes with hands that handled with ripping the spike out of Ramiel's corpse earlier. They hold the titan's arm firmly suspended in the air as another crane with a giant drill attached to it reaches towards it. More cranes with hands come into focus and lunge towards the titan's right hand and pulls its fingers away, making its palm fully visible. The drill then pierces right into the titan's right palm, causing a flow of blood to spew out, hitting the floor. After digging deep into the titan's arm, the crane with the arm pulls away and the other cranes lift the spike from Ramiel up, moving it right into the hole in the titan's palm dull side first in. More cranes move into view as the spike is shoved deep into the titan's arm to surgically impale and implant various cybernetic materials and parts into the titan's arm, apparently making it be able to use the spike from Ramiel as a retractable drill.

With all of the work on the drill done, the dark, shadowy figure steps into view with demonic red lights illuminating in front of it, revealing it to be none other than The Dark One. He appears to be wearing some kind of cybernetic glove on his right arm and stands in front of the equally mysterious titan. The Dark One then presses various buttons on the glove that causes various multicolored lights to blink on the glove. He then pulls said arm out and starts moving it around. In a very eerie manner, the titan's own right arm began to mimic the movements The Dark One's is making. The Dark One then pulls the fingers on his right arm away from the arm's palm, causing the titan's own to do the exact same thing and a familiar spike to extract from its palm, spinning around in a malicious, sinister manner. The Dark One them moves his fingers back towards the palm, causing the titan's drill to retract back into the palm's hole and its fingers to move back towards the palm.

"Just as planned", The Dark One growled in all of his menacing, robotic, reverb filled glory. He then walked towards a corner in the room and shut whatever amount of lights adorned in the room off, encasing the entire room in total darkness. The Dark One then, as usual, vanished into the darkness with the lights from his helmet following him, leaving the titan alone in silence.

* * *

"Aw geez, its been nothing but Asuka this and Asuka that. The whole friggin' school is like bowing down to her like some kind of queen", Rei whined as various pictures of Asuka in different assorted types of poses and sections of the school are shown in a very slide show like manner.

"Oh come on, I think she's hot. I sure would totally take her if I could", Toji chuckled in response.

"Seriously, Suzuhara...she's bad news. Got in a fight with a bunch of cosplay twats in the arcade yesterday. If we're not banned for life there, then at least we did some good, but all I can say is I don't like this Soryu bird. At all", Mari replied to Toji, with noticeable sense of irritation in her voice.

"Oh come on you two. Asuka can't be that bad, especially since she is soooo hot", Kensuke replied to Mari in a voice that reflected that he was metaphysically drooling over Asuka's presence.

"Well, I wonder what Shinji thinks about her, though he seems to be a bit late coming over here today", Rei asked her friends. It is also revealed that all four of them are sitting in the school lunch hall, with Rei and Mari sitting on one end of a table and Toji and Kensuke on the other end.

"Beats me, Rei. Maybe you should go look for him yourself before that twat Asuka gets to him", Mari told Rei as she sat on the table.

"Alrighty then. I'll go look for him and see what's he up too. I'll see you three later", Rei informed Mari, Toji and Kensuke as she stood up and picked up her trash filled tray to dump it in a nearby garbage can, as well as her small bag of goodies she carries with her everywhere and go look for Shinji. She then exited the lunch hall and started her search for her fellow EVA pilot and friend Shinji Ikari.

* * *

As Rei was walking through the school grounds, she hears a large group of chants nearby, as well as the sound of many feet walking in a crowd. The chants in question are a simple joy filled chant of the name "Asuka". Since she's nearby a water fountain, Rei simply gets behind it but stays in a position in which she can keep an eye on what's going on without being spotted.

On the street, Asuka struts into view while a large crowd of school goers follow her behind, chanting her name and pumping their right fist up in the air in unison as she struts through the school ground street. This goes on for a while until Asuka and her cut-like crowd walk out of focus, in which Rei then poked out of hiding and continued her search for Shinji.

* * *

Elsewhere on the school grounds, Shinji is sitting on a bench by a patch of Spiraea japonica on the grass. He's sitting down, hunch towards the grass in which the voice of his mother can be heard in his head.

"Shinji, I just wanted to tell you in advance that some day, I won't be there to see you grow old and live your life to the fullest", Shinji's mother Yui tells him via a memory in his head. Both he and his mother are standing on a cliff with the sunset wrapping them in a scenic sight that would awe many, the view is also very saturated and wrapped around in a hazy fog.

"What do you mean, mother? Father never seems to never talk to me unless its for a mission", Shinji told his mother as he sat down on the cliff and looked at the horizon.

Yui then sat next to Shinji and replied, "Oh your father cares for you in the bottom of his heart, he's just really busy. You two will get to be closer one of these days", while sporting a warm smile on her face.

"I suppose. He just seems...so cold and distant to me, mother. He never bothered to call me before I came down here and just seems to be an all-around grouch", Shinji replied back in a slight whimper.

"Oh come on, Shinji-kun. Your father isn't as cold as you think. I've seen him playing his silly video games all the time. Like I said...he's busy", Yui chuckled in response as she sat with Shinji.

"Well, mother...i'll take your word for it, then", Shinji responded with a slight smile on his face.

"That a boy, my son", Yui replied back while showing off an even warmer smile on her face. She then hugged her son, in which he hugged back in response.

* * *

"Gutten Tag, Shinji", the voice of Asuka boastfully greeted Shinji, which cut through Shinji's state of mind like a Katana slicing through a torso. The focus resumed back to simply Shinji sitting on the bench

Shinji simply stayed quiet, still trying to descramble his thought process to return back to reality.

"I said...Gutten Tag, Baka Shinji!", Asuka yelled at Shinji, with her voice now being brimming with sheer irritation.

"Oh, sorry Asuka. I was too busy paying attention to something that happened a week ago or so", Shinji responded with a minor trace of fear and nervousness in his voice.

"Was auch immer, Baka Shinji. I'm just wondering where our other fellow pilots are.", Asuka asked Shinji as she leaned her head towards Shinji, with her breasts wiggling a slight bit in response to her movement.

"Rei and Mari? I dunno. I was going to get something to eat and see if they're in the lunchroom, but then I just couldn't keep what my mother told me a few weeks back", Shinji replied as he leaned his head away from Asuka's, exposing a tint of fear on his face.

"Yeah, Wondergirl and the Engländer. That's who i'm looking for. I especially got a beef with that ficken Engländer, so if you see either of them...Rufen Sie für mich and i'll be on my merry way", Asuka replied back with a rage large and devious grin on her face as she started to strut away, complete with her cult following right behind.

"Okay, Asuka. See you later", Shinji responded as he waved at Asuka. However, his voice got immediately lost in the massive swarm of renewed Asuka chants from the crowd as they sheepishly followed her to her next destination.

* * *

Since she could not quite find Shinji, Rei decided to recoup before she resumed her search by pulling an issue of Fangoria out of her bag of goodies to read it.

As she read the issue of Fangoria, a very familiar tale-tell female teenager voice with a marginally thick german accent called out, "Hallo wondergirl! We didn't quite get to einführen each other yesterday, so I like to formell introduce mich to you."

"Yeah? Does it look like I have a lasso of truth on me? Anyways, so you want us to introduce ourselves to each other? Fine...i'm Rei Ayanami", Rei replied as she looked up at Asuka and put her issue of Fango away into her goody bag to extend her right arm out to shake Asuka's own.

Asuka, following suit, shook Rei's hand, in which she noticed a rather eerie difference in skin tone between her and Rei's. While her own skin color is not exactly the most tan out there, Asuka's skin tone looked rather healthy in contrast to Rei's oddly pale, sickly skin tone. Rather than make a less than kindly comment about Rei's skin tone, Asuka proceeded to reply, "I'm Asuka Langely Soryu. I transferred here from Munich, Germany via the aircraft carrier Over the Rainbow on the great sea. Anyways, with that scheiße out of the way, I want to know where your freund the Engländer is? Lemme just say that we got a bisschen ein problem from yesterday to settle."

"You mean Mari? Oh...silly her. I last saw her in the lunch hall. Dunno if she's still eating or not, but you can always check there and see if she's there. Also, I notice that for a newbie to this school, you have assembled quite the paparazzi in such a record breaking amount of time. I'm rather impressed", Rei replied and admitted with a slight chuckle in her voice as she scanned the massive crowd bunched up directly behind Asuka.

"So? People come over to me because they know i'm das gute! Anyways, i'll see you around...wondergirl", Asuka replied to Rei. She turned and pointed directly at the lunch hall building and shouted, "Zum Mittag-Halle!" as she started to strut her way towards the lunch hall building. Her crowd followed, resuming their air fisting and Asuka chants as they followed her like a herd of sheep.

* * *

With Asuka and Company gone, Rei stood and started to look for Shinji again, commenting, "Sheesh, this gal has a real superiority complex. Man oh man. Now where is Ikari-kun?"

* * *

As Asuka and her posse continued to march, DesuLoli and Claire inadvertently crossed their paths. Although Phoenix wasn't too interested in the sight, DesuLoli simply stopped, taking this opportunity to meet the newcomer of the school.

"Oh come on, Kristina, I don't want to deal with this deutschland bitch right now", Claire whispered to DesuLoli with a slight whine as she started to walk away from Asuka, DesuLoli and the crowd.

DesuLoli then hastily grabbed Claire by her shirt, pulled her by her side and told her, "Hold your horses, Claire. Don't be such a sap, we should greet our new fellow classmate on her first day here" with a grin on her face. She the stepped aside from Claire to stand in front of Asuka and introduced herself by saying "...ummmmm...ehhhhh...ummmm...i'm sorry. I didn't take German back in my time at Kansas City. Anyways, my name is DesuLoli and I am the creator of the internet show 'Subarashii Nippon!'. Nice to meet you. So what's your name, eh?"

Asuka, uninterested by DesuLoli, looked at Claire and said, "So...another rothaarige, eh? Always nice to meet another redhead around these parts,"

As Asuka proceeded to get closer to Claire, Claire herself simply backed away from Asuka and told her, "I got other things to attend to", grabbing DesuLoli by her shirt and dragging her along, leaving Asuka and her posse by themselves.

"Well, that was a real belastung von müll. Anyways, Sie finden diese verdammte Engländer, my dear followers. März auf!", Asuka once again pointed at the lunch hall room and strutted the way over there.

* * *

"You know, Jet? I just wonder to myself...could it be possible for my old boss and company to try and hunt you down?", Shiro asked Jet Alone Prime as he sat on top of his own creation, which was standing inside a hanger that was also the entryway to the underground section of Nerv. The hanger itself was well lit, though the entryway to the underground was encased in darkness.

"I dunno, brother, but I sure would love to make and promote the Jet Alone Prime Ultimate Grill, complete with the ability to make plump and juicy hot dogs for all of the Jet Alone Prime Maniacs world wide", Jet Alone Prime proudly boasted with its automated Hulk Hogan voice, shifting itself into a ridiculously heroic pose that would awe some and make others laugh in embarrassment.

"Sorry Jet. I'm afraid Nerv can't afford to produce any groovy Jet Alone Prime merchandise. Hell, my poor ass self can't even afford to do so at this moment. Some day you will get merchandise, though. Some day", Shiro informed Jet Alone Prime with a slight yawn and cry in his voice.

* * *

However, the conversation between man and mech was broken up by the sounds of footsteps echoing into the room, in which a noticeable man with a ponytail, a blue business shirt with its sleeves rolled up to elbow length, a red tie, black slacks and black business shoes walks into view.

Shiro gazes his eyes at this sight like he has just seen a ghost all of a sudden and blurts out, "Ka...Ka...Kaji? Is that my bro Kaji over there?" in total surprise and befuddlement.

"Shiro Tokita, you funny son of a bitch. Its been a long time. Where have you been in my last five years of my life?", Kaji boasted out in excitement and joy as he walked closer to Shiro and Jet Alone.

"Is that man a Jet Alone Prime Maniac, Mr. Tokita?", Jet Alone Prime asked its creator as he took notice of Kaji walking towards itself, not at all being intimidated by its great size.

"No shit, Jet. Let the good old man on board. He's a very good friend of mine", Shiro informed Jet Alone Prime in which Jet did what its creator ordered it to do by putting its left arm down to the floor and allowing Kaji to get on it. After standing on Jet Alone Prime's left hand for a short period of time, Jet Alone Prime lifted its arm up back to its regular position, prompting Kaji to make his way towards Shiro. Once there, he sat next to him to chill with him and catch up with lost time.

"So...Shiro. Since we did you join Nerv?", Kaji asked Shiro as he sat on Jet Alone Prime alongside his pal Shiro.

"About two weeks ago or so. Sabotaged my old company's big project, kept the real deal, which is what are we sitting on right now, to myself and managed to convince Gendo and Yui that I could work here instead. So here I am, with Jet and the others, working for life. Just the good life", Shiro replied to Kaji with a very laid back tone in his voice.

"Ah. That's nice to hear. So its gonna be like college all over again.", Kaji replied back in an equally laid back manner.

"Anyways, you and Misato still going out?", Shiro asked Kaji in a very curious tone as he slightly swayed his feet to the left and to the right.

"Sadly no. We broke up about a year ago. In fact, you should have seen the look on her face when I saw her today for the first time in a while. Fucking vintage", Kaji responded with a slight chuckle in his voice.

* * *

"DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! THAT STUPID POOPY HEAD JUST HAD TO PERMANENTLY START WORKING HERE. AND NOW HE AND HIS CHUCKLEHEADED COLLEGE BUDDY ARE BOTH WORKING HERE TOO! DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT IT ALL TO HELL!", the voice of Misato screamed in sheer anger and shrill. Although she is sounding all banshee like, she's taking most of her frustrations out on a session of a Tekken 5 arcade cabinet in Gendo's personal arcade. Controlling Ling Xiaoyu, she completely obliterates the Kaji-esque Lei Wulong in a rather symbolic matter.

"Ummm...Captain Katsuragi...what are you doing in my private arcade room...and why is there a Tekken 5 cabinet in here?", Gendo, who just happened to walk into his personal arcade, asked Misato in a very bemused tone as he saw her not only being in his private gaming room but also playing an arcade cabinet he never saw in there before.

* * *

Rei has been still looking for Shinji, simply because of the dire situation on hand. Asuka, just being at school for one day, had managed to singlehandedly amassed a cult of sorts among most of the students on campus and is looking for Mari, the very same person she challenged to a martial arts duel of sorts.

"Shinji-kun...are you around?", Rei shouted out in concern as she looked around in a haze among more trees, shrubs and grass.

Her crosshires then suddenly catch a glimpse of Shinji waving and saying, "I'm over here, Ayanami".

Seeing that Shinji is over there, Rei darts towards him and stops as soon as she reaches him. She then tells Shinji, "Oh man, i've been looking for you everywhere. This place has been a total animal house since SHE got here".

"Ummmm...I guess.", Shinji quietly responded as he stood. His feet were shifting on the ground, making noticeable marks and dents onto the dirt and grass. He then added "Well...I managed to get the unfortunate cruel joke of having to...well...live alongside her"

"What? ASKUA. IS. LIVING WITH YOU AND. MAJOR KATSURAGI? The hell?", Rei shouted in utter shock and horror to Shinji's revelation.

"It was Misato's idea...but I don't really mind it. Asuka may be a bit of a terror, but there's worse things out there than her...like the angels", Shinji responded, not being fazed by any of the proceedings going on.

"You sure got a point, Shinji. Speaking of the angels...I wonder when i'll be able to test out Super Zero on one?", Rei pondered to herself, especially curious if she will able to fight some angels again, most preferrably as soon as possible.

* * *

Deep in the sewers of Tokyo-3, a bunch of city workers are doing maintenance on the sewer systems and such.

"Daichi, I see some weird bubbles coming from here. I'm gonna go check it out", one maintenance worker informed another, in which he started to descend down a ladder to the actual sewage.

"Be careful, Atsushi. You don't want to be chin deep in feces after all, so make it quick", the other worker told his coworker.

"Yeah yeah i'll...GAHHHH!", Maintenance Worker Atsushi replied, only to scream and be pulled deep into the sewage by an unseen force. His coworker started calling out for his name and walked towards the edge to peer into the sewage, only to see a large set of jaws coming face first into him and biting him on his body, pulling him down to the sewage as well.

* * *

"Aw crap. Why did I have to get fired from my job today? Goddamn fascist boss", a gruff looking man in a gray trenchcoat grunted as he pulled out a box of cigarettes from his left trenchcoat pocket and a lighter out of his right trenchcoat pocket.

Right when he was about to light up, a giant spear like spike came down on him, impaling him onto it and killing him instantly. It turns out the thing that killed him is a surrealistic looking being of sorts, with various other human corpses impaled on its Daddy Long Legs-like legs that are all attached to a dome like body with multicolored tribal shapes on it and its clock arms-esque head twitching in motion as its suspended on a pole-ish neck. As it lumbered through the city, the blood of its victims dripped onto the streets, painting the town red.

Rei and others will get to fight more angels again, but Asuka's arrival could either mean good faith or a bad omen to her fellow pilots. Regardless, teamwork will be needed, despite Rei and Mari's semi-resentment against Asuka and the addition of a non-Evangelion mech that is Jet Alone Prime, to ensure another victory, especially with the double whammy threat of not one but TWO angels.

May their spirits, skills and teamwork ensure victory or they will fail to save the world in sheer embarrassment.


	25. Chapter 24: Two for One Discount

**Chapter 24: Two for One Discount

* * *

**

As Asuka and her posse continued to march through the school, they finally reached the lunch hall at last. As they walked, both Kensuke and Toji were standing on one side of the walkway, drooling and wagging like dogs at the sight of Asuka.

Asuka then approached the front door of the lunch hall and kicked it open. She then stepped into the lunch hall in a rather bizarre, Fashion Show-esque manner. While she stood in front of the door with her right hand on her hip, several of her followers marched into the lunch hall to stand by her.

Being very persistent to find Mari, Asuka scanned the lunch hall, right down to underneath the tables. However, with no Mari to be found, Asuka then shouted "Gott verdammt noch mal! dass Engländer is nowhere to be found. Alright, mein lieber Anhänger, out of the lunch hall wir gehen!", in which she then turned around and began to walk out of the lunch hall. The followers that walked into the lunch hall followed her and the ones waiting outside then began to follow her like sheep again as she paved the way to continue looking for Mari.

* * *

"Well, at least that doddle didn't do much harm to that dunny. Anyways, gotta see if Rei had found Shinji", Mari told herself as she exited a bathroom and straightened her glasses out a little. However, once she opened the door, she saw none other than Asuka and her posse standing in front of the bathroom.

Asuka, who was simply glaring at Mari, informed her, "At last, I have finally found you, Engländer. Been waiting to smack deinen Arsch herum since yesterday".

Unimpressed, Mari then chuckled, "Heh, who in the bloody hell do you think you are? Jason Statham? What a load of bollocks. Your threats are as dull as ditchwater, so bring it!"

* * *

Angered by Mari's discardment of Asuka's threat, her face began to turn red and her body began to tremble in rage, but right before she could explode, she felt a voice tell her, "Hold on there, ma'am. We are gonna need your redhaired butt at HQ"

Asuka then turned around and saw an African American man in a black business suit and with black shades over his eyes. "Ummm...Agent Will...what do you want me for?"

"Well, honey, I need to take both you and Mari to HQ. The boss has told me that all EVA pilots got a new joint to take care of with some angels, so he ordered me and my cohort Agent Smith to pick you all up", Agent Will informed Asuka and Mari with his smooth as silk voice.

"So I guess you are picking me and Charlie Brown's German girlfriend up and Agent Smith is picking Rei and Shinji up, right?", Mari asked

"Correcto, Ms. Makinami. Now all I want you both to do is follow to my sweet ride so we can get jiggy with it and stop dem angels", Agent Will replied with a cheesy grin on his face.

"Ugh. in Ordnung, Agent Will. I will do what you sagen Sie mir zu tun.", Asuka replied. She then followed that up by groaning to herself, "Güte hölle!". She then turned her head towards to her posse, with a big frown on her face and informed them, "Sorry, meine freunde. I gotta show the Engländer wie ich pilot and trust me, meine kumpels, I am very verdammt gut."

As Asuka followed Mari and Agent Will, she turned and saw her posse waving at her and saying in unison, "Good luck Asuka. Kick those angels' butts for us and we'll see you tomorrow.". As she heard that, she began to tear up, which was complemented by the loud, wall of sound chants of her name from her posse.

Agent Will then escorted both girls to his black painted 2014 model Mercedes and allowed them to get in. Before he got in himself, he commented "I make this car look good", then proceeding to get into it and start it up, driving off to head towards Nerv HQ.

* * *

On the same road, a black Caddilac is also heading its way to Nerv HQ. Its driver is Agent Smith and his passengers are Rei Ayanami and Shinji Ikari.

"So, Mr. Ikari. Seems like fate has brought us together again, only this time i'm taking you to HQ instead of escorting you out of Tokyo-3. Who would've known?", Agent Smith informed Shinji as he drove.

"...right.", Shinji quietly replied as he sat next to Rei in the back.

Rei then asked, "So, Agent Smith...your cohort picked up Mari and that crazy redhead, right?"

"Affirmative, Ms. Ayanami. The Commander and his wife informed me that you four are all needed for this mission.", Agent Smith immediately responded.

* * *

However, a blue skinned man with messy hair and a goatee suddenly ran up to the car, peered through the driver seat window and screamed, "You guys gotta get the hell outta here. Its total chaos. Far more dangerous than any atomic mud pie you could order at Betifantasutikku. I'm not kidding...its horrible. Absolutely horrible!"

Not fazed by the blue man's panic, Agent Smith coldly replied, "Move away, pimple faced smurf. We got it under control."

The blue man then stepped away from the car, examined Agent Smith, then slapped his hands onto his face, widened his eyes and moth in utter horror and screamed, "Oh my god!" and began to run away as far as he could.

After the blue man ran away, Rei asked Agent Smith, "Who exactly was that guy?"

Shinji then added, "Yeah. I never saw a blue skinned person in my life"

"Well...we gotta get a move on. Don't want the keep the Commander waiting", Agent Smith replied, in which he then started up the car again and continue to drive towards Nerv HQ.

* * *

"Okay. We got a real big tasks on our hand today.", Misato informed all four EVA pilots, who are now wearing their plugsuits. "We not only have to deal with one, but two angels today"

"You better not be lying, Major Katsuragi. I so can't wait to take 'em both down in my first real Evangelion pilot mission", Mari joyfully squealed in midair as she hopped in excitement

"Oh no you better not steal my donner, Engländer. I am far more qualifiziert, um die Aufgabe zu tun than you are, sie stumm den Kopf!", Asuka shouted in disapproval at Mari and shoved her to the side.

"You two better stop being poopyheads.", Misato yelled at both Mari and Asuka in an irritated tone.

"Me? A Stuhlgang Kopf? Oh nein nein nein i'm not. Hardly and sicherlich nicht, Major Katsuragi. I am the Größte EVA pilot to ever leben on this verdammten planeten!", Asuka proudly boasted to show that she isn't a poopyhead like Misato told her and tried to explain why she is capable to be a pilot.

Misato then quickly replied by informing her, "I know you are qualified to pilot an Evangelion and combat the angels. However, it is virtually impossible for you to take them both on at once", which led to Asuka glazing her eyes out and letting out a "huh?" full of pure confusion. "That's why I am splitting you four into two teams. Rei and Shinji will take on the eighth angel. The one that has been reported to make unsuspecting people into shiskabob. As for you, Asuka, as well as Mari, you two will be accompanied by Jet Alone Prime into Tokyo-3's sewer system to take out the seventh angel. So...do you four understand?"

"Absolutely, Major Katsuragi", Rei nodded in response.

"Yes, Misasto", Shinji added.

"Mmmmm...heavy.", Mari also added, albeit with a big grin on her face.

"What? I have to team with not only that dumme Engländer, but also ein dummer Esel verzögert Roboter? What a load of komplette Scheiße!", Asuka whined in disapproval over Misato's plan.

"Oh come on, Asuka. Shiro has informed me that Jet Alone Prime is completely capable of doing tasks. Its nothing like that junk he made to get out of working for his old company, right?", Misato replied, though being slightly unsure if Shiro was telling the truth.

* * *

As Misato turned, Shiro and Kaji were sitting nearby, eating a bag of popcorn. When Shrio saw Misato concentrate her eyes on him, he gulped a little, then replied, "Positively, Misa. Jet Alone Prime is totally able to hold its own in a fight.". He the whispered to himself, "though I have no clue at all if Jet could fight a goddamn angel. Yikes.". All Kaji did was wave and smile at Misato.

While Misato groaned in frustration, Asuka simply squealed in joy, immediately washing away her poisonous thoughts over the situation and proceeding to inform Kaji, "Kaaaaji. I won't let you down at all for you!".

After hearing what Asuka said to him, Kaji's eyes bugged out in response to Asuka oogling him. Shiro then turned towards his buddy and asked him, "So, Kaji. Do you wish you could...ummm...go back in time?", only to receive a jab in the face as a reply.

Misato then shouted at them, "Knock it off, you two!". She then turned her attention towards Asuka and asked her, "So now you agree to the prerequisite plans?"

"Absolut, Misato. Alles für Kaji. Etwas!", Asuka smiled in a very goofy manner as she squealed in response to her commanding officer's question.

"Good. Now I want you all to get to your plugs and receive the info for your positions, okay?", Misato informed and asked her pilots to see if they are all on the same page as her.

All four children simply nodded in response, which lead to Misato telling them, "Okay, lets go kick some angel butt!".

* * *

Inside the command room, although the children are now inside their Evangelions, the big question for them now is the usual, "Why is Lieutenant Ibuki always late?"

"Well, hell if I know if she'll stop being late.", Aoba grumbled as he sat in his monitor section.

All of a sudden, he felt an ice cold sensation on his neck that startled him and resulted in him turning around, only to see none other than Maya Ibuki, standing by his place and holding a note pad in her left arm.

"Gee wiz, Maya. Why did you have to do that?", Aoba questioned her in a startled tone.

"Well, I did overhear you saying that I am always late. Well, I always try my best to get here on time, Aoba. Anyways, I gotta get to my place", Maya replied and started to walk to her monitor place. Aoba simply did not bother to reply at all, instead focusing back on the important task on hand.

"Shinji, Rei. Are you both in position?", Misato asked them via speakerbox, since she is in the command center, while Rei and Shinji are inside their Evangelions, hiding behind a large building with assault rifles in hand.

"Affirmative", Rei and Shinji both replied in unison.

"Good. Just wait there until I figure out how we should take down this...walking clock on a stick", Misato replied back.

"Now, Major Katsuragi...did you evacuate the area, because we saw this...blue guy running at Agent Smith's car, screaming at us earlier", Rei asked Misato, showing concern over not wanting to step on a hapless citizen.

"A...a...blue guy? Ummmm...pretend you did not see that. Forever.", Misato replied with a sense of unease and embarrassment. She then added, "As for all the citizens, they have all been sent into evacuation shelters for the time being. Its a protocol we set in action during all angels attacks. Remember that".

Ritsuko then turned her head towards Misato and asked, "Blue guy...is that the one guy who had been filling the MAGI with his product placement crap?"

"Maybe.", Misato replied, being very reserved and hesitant about the subject.

"I think its that guy who I ran into the other who called me a one toothed hick, because I sure am no goddamn hick", Hyuga replied with a hint of spite and irritation.

"Okay, okay. Enough of the blue guy. We got more important matters in hand right now to deal with", Misato shouted, wanting to refocus on the mission.

* * *

"Was für eine Last von Fäkalien! This place reeks of Kot...but I have to tun es. All just for meine liebe Kaji", Asuka partially complained. She, Mari and Jet Alone Prime are in the sewers, keeping a lookout for the angel.

"Oh you and your Kaji thing. What a load of bollocks.", Mari snarled in irritation.

Jet Alone Prime then set its arm on both Unit 02 and Unit 05, informing them and boasting, "Oh, you silly lasses better stop arguing. Besides, we gotta run wild on this angel that threatens the millions of Jet Alone Maniacs that train, say their prayers, eat their vitamins, be true to themselves and true to their countries."

While Mari and Asuka facepalmed at Jet Alone Prime's outrageous boasting, Misato informed all three of them, "Okay. The angel has been reported to be lurking underwater, so keep a good look out."

The two pilots replied, " Gotcha", at the same time.

Jet then added, "Same here, ma'am".

* * *

"Ummm...Major Katsuragi. Don't the Evangelions usually have a 5 minute limit without the cord, because why isn't the countdown on right now?", Maya asked Misato, being curious about why the EVAs in the sewers don't have the clock ticking on them.

"The Commander, Dr. Ikari and Dr. Akagi just finished up making a battery pack for them and Units 02 and 05 are testing them out right now. If they work properly, then say goodbye for the need of the cords.", Misato replied.

"Oh. That's...well...interesting", Maya replied in a rather odd tone. She then leaned her head downwards and placed both hands over her face to muffle a really bizarre scream of rage she suddenly belted out.

"Uhhhh...Lieutenant Ibuki? What the hell did you just do?", Misato questioned Maya in a completely puzzled manner.

"Oh nothing. I'm fine. Just fine. Resuming my duty", Maya replied with a slightly embarrassed grin on her face. All Misato did was nod in a minorly hesitant, disturbed manner and refocused her view on the large screen monitor that kept status of all of the children and their Evangelions.

* * *

As Rei and Shinji, via their Evangelions, were hiding behind a building and armed with assault rifles, Rei catches a glimpse of a very unusual sight. Accompanied by a ticking sound, the so-called "clock on a stick" angel lumbers its way towards their direction.

"Ummmm...Ayanami...got any ideas to take it down?", Shinji asked Rei, being worried about both of their safety and if they can actually eradicate the angel with ease.

"I dunno...Shinji...all I got in my head is...well...this.", Rei replied, in which she then made her Evangelion poke its left leg out in the open.

"Ayanami, what are you doing?", Shinji yelled in fear at Rei, completely panic stricken.

"I'm gonna see if I can just trip the damn thing", Rei replied, in which she then winked then telegraphed yet another beautifully angelic smile at Shinji via the Evangelion's monitor.

"Oh... Ayanami. Just...try to not get hurt this time", Shinji nervously replied back after seeing Rei's smile via his monitor.

While Rei kept Unit 00's left leg out, the angel kept lumbering on. However, it finally reached at their place, but in a split second, Unit 00's mobile left leg resulted in the angel losing its balance, getting knocked down and completely on the pavement, completely unable to get back up.

* * *

"Shhhh...Asuka, Jet. Did you two hear that?", Mari asked Asuka and Jet Alone Prime. Apparently, Mari heard movement in the sewer water nearby. While Unit 02's assault rifle has a flashlight attached to it and Jet's AI permits it to see in dark areas and with its hammer in hand, Unit 05 appeared to have no weapons at all in hand.

"Well, little British sis...I think so. My Jet Alone Prime sense are tingling and if I see that beast come by, i'm gonna run wild onto it", Jet Alone Prime boasted. However, a bone like being swaps its bottom half, knocking Jet Alone Prime away from Mari and Asuka and into a wall on the other side.

"Der Teufel war das?", Asuka shouted in surprise and she witnessed Jet smacked away from her and Mari.

"I dunno...ummm...what is your name? We never really got to...ummm...introduce each other. My name is Mari Illustrious Makinami. What's yours...eh?", Mari asked Asuka, perhaps trying to see that with Asuka being a bit scared, she could be able to make introductions right now and tackle the angel together.

"Oh! Well, Mein Name ist Asuka Langley Soryu. Sorry that I did not get to machen Einführungen...AHHH!", Asuka replied. However, Unit 02 got knocked down by something unseen, which caused her to shriek a little.

"Oh bollocks. This is gonna be rather scrotty. Time to bust out the old ultraviolence", Mari grinned and said with absolute glee.

"Hilfe! Hilfe! Can you help mir oben?", Asuka shouted in despair as Unit 02 laid on the ground.

Mari, via Unit 05, kneeled down and helped Unit 02 up. However, Mari then informed Asuka, "Okay. My turn to kick seven shades of shit out of this angel's arse!".

Out of nowhere, various blades began to pop out of Unit 05. A blade out of both wrists, Wolverine-like blades out of its knuckles, blades out of its heels, one blade out of the front of both of its feet and blades out of its kneecaps. This made Asuka ask Mari, "Was in der Welt? Why do you need all of those klingen?"

"Oh, these? I personally enjoy unleashing the fury on my enemies with sharp objects", Mari informed Asuka. "Now excuse me, its time for me to bust some angel bollocks." and proceeded to make Unit 05 charge at the sewer water, only to see a giant, skeletal beast burst out of said water. Although Mari made Five slow down, she gazed at the fleshless, muscleless angel, she then nervously chuckled at the sight, proceeded to walk and quietly sing in a somewhat sinister tone, "Happiness doesn't walk to me because i'm walking to it. One day, one step. Three steps in three days. Three steps forward, two steps back. LIFE'S A PUNCH!", in which her voice slowly grows more intense and anger ridden, up until she finally screams, runs towards the angel and jumps right at it to attack.

* * *

With the angel down, Rei makes Unit 00 walk towards it as it struggles to get back up, mainly due to its body structure. She them makes Zero kneel down and reach its hands towards the downed angel, which caused Shinji to scream at her, "What the hell are you doing, Ayanami?".

"Oh don't worry, Shinji. Gonna see if I can...well...pick it up and use it for something", Rei replied. Unit 00 then grabbed the angel, held its legs together and lifted it, only to hold it like a staff. She then made Zero twirl it around and even perform a back lift, in which she then quipped, "Totally bitchin'.".

Out of nowhere, the angel from the sewers bursts out of the surface, causing Unit 05 to be tossed into the air and land against the building next to Unit 00 and Unit 01. After Unit 05 lands on the ground, Rei asks Mari, "Looks like you have some air there."

"Indeed, Rei. But this angel has just been a real kick in the arse", Mari replied as she rolled her neck around, as well as her body ached from the pain receptors, due to what happened to Unit 05.

"Anyways, where's Asuka and Jet?", Rei replied back, being curious about the others.

* * *

Out of the hole, a hammer popped out of it and slid on the pavement. Then, both Jet Alone Prime and Unit 02 appeared, with Jet assisting Two in getting it back to the surface. Once Two was on the ground, Units Zero, One, Two and Five assisted Jet to get on the surface, with it thanking, "You three sure are realy Jet Alone Prime Maniacs for helping me get out of that rancid place. Now where is our friend Mr. Bones, because I want to run wild on him."

Behind them, the seventh angel jumped down and growled at them, which made all three Evangelions and the mech turn around to see it. What they saw was the angel, trembling. In a split second, blood being to spill and drip out of it, with muscle tissue popping out and creeping onto its body.

Seeing the horrific sight, Asuka muttered in utter horror, "Was zum Teufel ist hier los?"

"I dunno, Asuka, but it looks like something straight out of The Thing and Hellraiser", Rei quipped in response, sounding obviously less horrified than Asuka.

"Yeah. Looks like this damn angel is becoming a real horrorshow right now.", Mari added and replied to Rei, equally not nearly as fazed.

However, various gory, muscle tissue-ridden arms spurted out of the angel, hitting Unit 01, Unit 02, Unit 05 and Jet Alone Prime. Although one tried to get Unit 00, Rei managed to have her Evangelion jump at the right time to avoid getting hit. The Evangelion then landed on the ground and started to run up towards a bulding in a very flashy and jaw dropping fashion. As Unit 00 jumped off the building, it then extended the eighth angel out and struck the seventh angel as if it was a staff.

* * *

Somewhere out of the distance, Kensuke and Toji managed to see the angel fight in process, which caused Kensuke to squeel, "Oh my gosh. All four of them are there. Including...including...oh Mari."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Kensuke. Don't even bother to make an effort to ask her out.", Toji replied in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Well...yeah. Anyways, I gotta...", Kensuke replied back.

However, before Kensuke could finish what he was saying, he heard a female "Hmph!", behind him, which caused both him and Toji to turn around. What they saw was DesuLoli, who is standing with a microphone in one hand and a boom mike in the other.

* * *

"Hello. This is DesuLoli and i'm here on this special episode of 'Subarashii Nippon!' to report something very big. What you see here is a fight between an Evangelion and a being i've been informed is called an angel.", DesuLoli reported as Kensuke's camcorder recorded her reporting, as well as the Evangelion/Angel fight that is unfolding.

"Aw man. Why did she of all people have to follow us?", Kensuke whispered to Toji, who is holding the boom mike towards DesuLoli.

"Beats me. Maybe she wanted to see one of those fights for herself", Toji replied, sounding less irritated than Kensuke.

"I guess.", Kensuke replied back as he continued to record DesuLoli and her reporting.

* * *

Rei continued to make Unit 00 beat up the seventh angel while using the eighth angel as a makeshift weapon. All of a sudden, more graphic, nasty looking arms bursted out of the angel, surrounding Rei. It then opened its mouth to let out a disgusting, repulsive looking head slowly pop out of it to get close to Unit 00. In a split second, Rei then made Unit 00 shove the eighth angel into the seventh angel's mouth, piecing it through its body. The angel then stopped doing its activities and its arms dropped, freeing Unit 01, Unit 02, Unit 05 and Jet Alone Prime. Rei then made Unit 00 pull the eighth angel out to start being up the damaged angel, causing blood to splash everywhere, as well as various bone particles, entrails and such.

* * *

Witnessing Unit 00 savagely beating up the eighth angel, Maya started to gaze at the frightening, rage filled sight. With her eyes glazed over at her monitor, she began to become rather sweaty, as well as grin in a very unorthodox, freaky and creepy fashion, even going as far to sexually lick her lips with her tongue. However, when Misato walked up to Maya and touched her back, Maya suddenly puked on her command board and monitor. As she threw up, everyone started to stare at her, wondering what caused her to do that. To prevent more vomit from getting her center, Maya placed both of her hands over her mouth, only to cause some of it to leak through her fingers.

"Maya, are you okay?", a worried Misato asked Maya, concerned about her sudden vomit fit.

Maya then turned around, removed her hands from her face to reveal her bug eyed looked, complete with vomit dripping from her lips and nostrils. She replied, "I think the savagery was too much for me to stomach. May I be excused to clean myself up?"

* * *

Feeling a bit sick in her stomach after staring at Maya's vomit dripping face, she then calmfully replied, "Lieutenant Ibuki, you are excused. This operation is pretty much finished now.", which resulted in Maya standing up and prancing out of the room, with puke dripping off of her hands. Despite feeling ill after looking at both Maya and her vomit drenched monitor area, she took a glance at the main monitor and saw that Rei had successfully eradicated both angels, with the bloodied, mangled, beaten up corpse of the seventh angel laying on the ground, motionless. Despite that she is still holding the eighth angel in hand, its head is still ticking, as well as making its clock-like sounds.

Misato then informed the pliots, "Return to HQ now and get cleaned up. Mission accomplished.".

While the other Evangelions and Jet Alone Prime began to walk away, Rei started at the eighth angel and rather than just leave it here, she made Unit 00 break it in half, only to toss it to the side and follow her fellow pilots.

* * *

Back in HQ, Rei, only wearing denim jeans and with her towel covering her breasts, complete with dripping wet hair and portions of her body still damp from the shower, started to walk into the bathroom to do so additional cleanup. However, she then heard a voice from one toilet stall nearby.

"Warum kann ich jemals etwas vollbracht, Christianne? Warum?", Asuka cried to herself with a trace of frustration in her voice.

"Ach mach dir keine Sorgen, Asuka. Du wirst in der Lage, andere, dass Sie einige echte Arsch treten kann zeigen.", Asuka then said again, this time assuming a creepy childlike falsetto in her

voice.

"Ich weiß, ich weiß, Christianne. In der Tat, ich liebe dich von ganzem Herzen. Wenn nur alle Puppen waren wie du und nicht so, dass meine Hündin Gertrude war.", Asuka replied, again speaking in her normal voice.

"Natürlich Asuka. Nicht alle Puppen sind wie die Fotze Gertrude. Bitte, vertrauen Sie mir auf, liebe Asuka Vertrauen. Sie mir.", Asuka spoke once again in that childish falsetto.

"Ich verstehe, Christianne. Ich verstehe.", Asuka replied to herself, again in her real voice.

* * *

Being totally curious, Rei walked up to the toilet stall Asuka is in and rudely opened it, revealing Asuka, only dressed in a white bra and her synch clips, wearing a crudely made handpuppet in her right hand. Embarrassed, Asuka saw Rei and shouted, "What die hölle are you doing here, Rei? Can't you just Lassen Sie mich einen Mist?"

Taking a look at Asuka's hand puppet and thinking like a real smart ass, Rei then started to say, "I never thought the taste of you would be the only thing to make me bleed. Why am I, so alive,

while you lie still in the ground beneath me?"

Being confused and a bit disturbed by what Rei said, Asuka replied, "Rei? Was zum Teufel redest du?"

Instead of replying, Rei continued by saying, "Fear of death the dark inside have become your only children. They're in front of you, watching you lost screams unholy dreams unrest."

"Seriously, Rei...Du bist schleichende die Hölle aus mir jetzt. Bitte hör auf!", Asuka shouted in response, becoming increasingly disturbed by Rei's words.

"I laugh at your god as he's passing through. Slicing at your throat to warm my skin Never thought it'd come to this Fuck I've gone wrong no rest. Your children still call. Can't you hear them screaming out your name?", Rei continued, still sounding rather creepy and chilling in a nearly monotonous tone.

"Stop it, Rei. I said stoppen! Stop the fuck out freaking von mir!", Asuka shouted, with her fear tossing her into absolute anger and irritation.

Rei began to lean closer towards Asuka and continued, "You've gone insane, they're in my head. They want you to...DIE IN FRONT OF ME!". While her voice began to slowly escalate in the creep factor, she suddenly screamed in a freaky fashion that caused Asuka to scream as well.

However, Rei then bursted into a frenzy of laughter over how she scared Asuka. "Hah hah hah, did you see the look on your face? Anyways, how you're doing?"

Rather than replying, Asuka simply slapped Rei in the face, shouting, "Ficken Fotze!", got up and walking out of the bathroom, grunting, "Dummen Kopf blauen Haaren Fotze! Sheesh!"

* * *

As Rei stood in the bathroom, alone, she looked around a little, then lifted her arms in a very "Whatever" manner, only to walk back to a locker to pull out a white bra and her black tank top out to put them, put the towel in the "dirty laundry" box and walked out of the bathroom altogether.


	26. Chapter 25: The Size Changing Angel

**Chapter 25: The Incredible Size Changing Angel!

* * *

**

"Commander Ikari, are you awake?", a rather familiar voice called out via telephone.

"Keel, why are you calling me at Two in the damn morning?", a rather grumpy, sleep deprived sounding Gendo Ikari replied on the other line, while Yui continues sleeping, entirely uninterrupted in her sleep. "Is this about the Human Instrumentality Project? I already said..."

Keel immediately cuts Gendo off, replying, "No. I just got confirmation that yet another angel had left Antarctica about several days ago and has been heading its way to Tokyo-3."

"Another angel? We already had encountered two angels just yesterday. Does this mean they're getting hasty now?", Gendo replied with a slight sense of confusion.

"I'm not sure. However, I will warn you that this angel has a rather...unusual power.", Keel replied back and the sound of a recliner squeaking in the background.

"What kind of power?", Gendo responded, repositioning himself on the bed to lean closer to the wall as he becomes more interested in what Keel had to say.

"Well...according to witness reports, this angel had started out as being the same size as Sachiel. However, it then suddenly vanished out of nowhere. Around this same time, other surviving witnesses claim that the angel literally shrunk down to human size and seized control of a nearby Cargo Ship.", Keel replied to Gendo, with his voice noticeably having difficulty accepting the news he received and informed.

"That sounds...strange. Way too much like an old sci-fi movie or an American comic book. Is that what they exactly said?", Gendo replied in bewilderment over the news he received.

"Correct. Even though you now know of this angel, I like you to be prepared for it to show up anytime. However...for now, you all take it easy. Me and the others have some...talking to do.", Keel replied back to Gendo, with his voice easing down a little.

"I understand", Gendo replied.

However, all he got back was the sound of the phone hanging up.

* * *

As Gendo placed the phone back on the receiver, he slid back down into the bed, which made Yui turn around and ask her husband, "Ummm...what was that phone call about?"

"It was Keel of Seele. He informed me that another angel is en route to Tokyo-3.", Gendo immediately replied. "However, we shall deal with that in the morning. We need our sleep."

"Okay, my love.", Yui replied back, in which she turned towards her husband and planted her arounds around his neck and a kiss on his lips. "but I hope this angel doesn't come too soon. We already dealt with two just yesterday."

"I know. Me too", Gendo responded as he curled up next to his wife and they both went back to sleep.

* * *

"What! The corpses of these angels disappeared too? What the hell is going on around here?", Misato griped on th phone as she was simply dressed in the sloppiest of bed apparel in her collection and her hair in a even more so state of distress, Shinji, Asuka and Pen-Pen, on the other hand, try to eath breakfast, despite being alerted by Misato's sudden turn to frustration in her voice.

"Honestly, Misato. I have no damn clue of why they're vanishing either", Ritsuko replied on the other line, dressed in a hazmat suit and at the site of yesterday's fight.

"Well you better eventually get to the bottom of this. Its getting really old now", Misato replied back, still sounding annoyed by the situation.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll ask the Commander and Dr. Ikari about it later, I just don't have very much minutes on my phone left, so I gotta go", Ritsuko responded back with her voice sounding rather tense.

"Okay, i'll see you then. Call me after you've talked to the Ikaris, please.", Misato replied, with her voice calming down and as she resituated herself as she stood by a nearby kitchen stool.

"I will. Bye.", Ritsuko replied back, only to hang up right after saying bye.

With that out of the way, Misato hangs up the phone and sits herself on the table, only to immediately focus her eyes on Asuka.

Asuka immediately realizes that Misato is looking at her and replies, "Was? Ich just essen right now" in a very "Why me?" tone.

Misato then leans closer to Asuka and sternly replies, "No more speaking in German, Asuka. Not while you live in Tokyo-3."

"Machst du witze me?", Asuka replied in a rather cocky tone after hearing what Misato informed her.

"See, you did it again. You need to stop speaking in German. Even though you live in Japan now, all citizens of Japan are required to learn how to speak English as a secondary language", Misato replied, "and since you mostly speak German and live in Tokyo-3, you have to start talking in English. Its a requirement."

"Im Ernst? That's a load of stier stuhlgang. Ich weigere mich, Englisch zu sprechen.", Asuka annoyingly replied to Misato in a classic rebellious fashion.

"I'm not joking, Asuka. Until you can start speaking in English, I have enrolled you into an afterschool English language class. Once you start speaking English, then you will no longer need to attend the class. However, you will still need to read books on the subject to become more fluent in the language, so there you go.", Misato responded, trying to keep her cool in retaliation to Asuka's stubbornness.

"Oh Mann.", Asuka gulped and replied, "Ja, ja. Ich werde learn how zu sprechen Englisch. Just, lassen Sie mich alone."

"Okay, then.", Misato replied back. "A deal is a deal. Anyways, I gotta get dressed, because I look like poo poo.", in which she then stood up, scratched her back and made her way to the bathroom.

Asuka then turned her head towards Shinji, who seemed to be lightly chuckling and yelled, "What are sie lachen über?"

"Nothing.", Shinji replied with a slight smile of amusement on his face.

Asuka then proceed to grunt out "Hmph!" and turn around, having her back face Shinji as she leaned her head up with her nose point upward and her arms clamped together. As for Pen Pen, he got up and waddled his way to his den to chill out as usual.

* * *

"So Shrio...where's Aoba?", Hyuga asked Shiro, in which both of them are in HQ's lounge room.

"Well...from what I understand, he went off to jam with Rei earlier. Not sure if it was Kaji or Yui that told me that, because I was suffering from one hell of an hangover earlier", Shiro replied, who is slumped over a couch in the area, reading an unknown manga of sorts with various ridiculous drawings of chibi characters covered in blood on its cover.

"Ah. I guess they needed to chill out, considering the craziness of what happened. I guess that's why the other pilots are nowhere to be seen.", Hyuga replied back as he readjusted his glasses.

* * *

Shiro then leaned himself up, nugged closer to Hyuga and added, "I just remembered that Mari apparently went with Rei and Aoba as well. Beats me why, but i'm too buzzed to care.". He then took a glance at the lounge room's flatscreen TV, saw that Maya was standing in front of it and added by whispering, "Hey. Take a look at Maya. Never knew she had much interest in ol' Naomi."

* * *

On the TV itself is yet another archive interview regarding Naomi, which seems to be, as previously mentioned, commonplace in Tokyo-3.

"Now Naomi. I had heard rumors you got back in touch with a long lost sister. Any confirmation on this or not?", the interviewer, who oddly resembled a young David Frost with a handlebar mustache and a Beatles-esque bowl haircut.

"Well...when my father was on his deathbed, he had informed me that I had a twin sister, but he and my mother could only afford to raise one child, so they gave her up for adoption. Now, it took me a while to track her down, but on a whim of chance, we managed to run into each other and catch up on lost time. Right now, we're both collaborating on a very top secret project and it feels good to be working with who I got left in my family", Naomi replied to the interviewer as she slid her robotic right hand through her long, flowing hair. She also proceeded to readjust her glasses afterwards.

"Well...I suppose that has to be quite a liberating experience. Meeting a sibling you never knew of for most of your life.", the interviewer replied with a tone of awe in his voice.

"It very much is. For the longest time, my life had been complete shit. The loss of my mother, the loss of my hand, the loss of my father and the loss of a mentor of mine. However, me finding my sister and the support of my dear Erik has kept me from crumbling from all the stress and despair in my life. In fact, all I can see is one big bright light that's helping me guide my way.", Naomi replies back, with tears dripping from her eyes.

* * *

As Maya watches this interview, she begins to unusually tear up as well. She then lifts her right hand right into view. All of a sudden, behind her Shiro begins to try standing up and walk towards Maya, only to stumble down to the floor due to intoxication from alcohol. He then managed to stand back up and lumber towards Maya, in which he then asked Maya, "I never knew you had much interest in ol' Naomi."

Maya then noticed that Shiro is next to her. She proceeds to wipe the tears off her face, turns around and in a rather giggly fashion, she smiles and replies, "Oh no, Shiro. Sempai Akagi is much better than that Naomi person. I never even knew about that Naomi person until now"

Hyuga, surprised about Maya's comment, stood up and slightly shouted, "Maya, you better not be kidding. The television stations have play all this Naomi crap all the time, for nearly three years now. How did you just realize that all of a sudden?"

Maya then turned around, shoved Shiro with her right hand, which strangely knocked him down to the floor, looked at Hyuga and replied, "Well, Hyuga...unlike you and everyone else. I don't watch television."

Although Shiro was knocked down to the floor, Hyuga simply took it as a result of his intoxication. Rather, he replied to Maya, "Well...okay. I just assumed that whenever you vanish to...wherever you go on your off-hours, you watch TV. Guess not."

Maya then walked towards Hyuga, coming close to his face. She lowers her eyelids to make her stare appear to be more sensual than her usually bouncy self, then places her ice cold right hand on his face, softly slides it down up until she reaches his right shoulder. She simply plants her right hand on it and looks right into his eyes.

Being a bit unsure and confused about Maya's current actions, he nervously breaks a sweat and even rapidly shifts his eyes in both directions. He's also tingling a little from Maya's arctic cold hand and grit his teeth together with an expression of sheer uncertainy.

As Maya continues to stare at Hyuga, she begins to slowly lick her upper teeth, proceeding to move her tongue down to lick her bottom teeth and lower lip, finally ending it by closing her mouth to slowly, sexually rub her lips together. However, rather than making any more, Maya suddenly reverts back to her bouncy, cutesy self, removing her hand from Hyuga's shoulder and informs him, "Well, I gotta go. Sempai might need my help. See you later.", and walks away, waving at him as she leaves the room.

* * *

After Maya left, Hyuga shakes his head and decides to help Shiro up, who has suddenly fallen asleep on the floor after being knocked down. Right as he helps him up, he suddenly sees Maya pipping her head back into the room, informing, "Sorry. Forgot my clipboard. Bye!", only to leave the room again with said clipboard in hand.

Shiro, who had suddenly awaken from his abrupt slumber looks at Hyuga and asked him, "Say...what just happened now? Looks like Maya is gone. What happened?"

Hyuga, still somewhat befuddled and embarrassed from what just happened, quietly replies, "Nothing, Shiro. Nothing. I'm gonna go get a drink of water.". He then walks away, only to let Shiro fall down to the ground again and fall back asleep.

* * *

"So Mari...I never knew you could play drums. When did you decide to say so now?", Rei asked Mari, in which both are at Aoba's place. Aoba himself is in the kitchen, grilling some hot dogs for himself and the girls. Rei does not have her trademark leather jacket on at the moment, but can clearly be seen wearing a Geoncyber T-Shirt and her usual denim jeans and black sneakers. Interestingly enough, her hair has also slowly began to grow out a little. Mari, on the other hand, is wearing a somewhat skimpy looking green tank top with the limbless Black Knight from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" on it, tight grey acid washed jeans, a black wristband on her left arm and Peep Toe Ruched Slingback Wedge Espadrilles.

Mari then turned around and replied, "The thing is, Rei, is that I don't really like saying too much about myself to other people. Too much bloody arse bollocks resulted in me being open to sharing a bit of myself to others back in ol' Blackpool.", with her voice being uncharacteristically stern and bitter. However, she then greatly toned down her voice to her usual upbeat self, smiled at Rei and added, "However, since we two are real BFFs and I like you...well...a lot, I decided to open up about that. Anyways, about the drums...my pops told me to take up an instrument to deal with...with...with".

Rei noticed that Mari started to appear to be distant, with tears suddenly pouring from her eyes. Being concerned, she asked her friend, "Mari, what's wrong? Don't be afraid to say what you want to say."

Mari then extended her arms out and hugged Rei, planting her face right onto her elbow and cried, "I'm sorry Rei. I just...just don't like thinking back to the past".

Rei then started to pat Mari's head and replied, "Shhhh...don't worry, Mari, we'll all together. You don't have to say what happened. I too had something horrible happen to me, so don't worry. We all got problems of our own."

Mari then leaned her head up, lifted her glasses, snorted, wiped the tears off her face, put her glasses back in their original position and asked Rei, "So...what happened to you?"

Rei then leaned her head towards Mari and softly replied, "I'll tell you after we leave Aoba's. You can tell me what happened to you in return."

"I understand", Mari replied back as she nodded and remained planted against Rei.

* * *

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang, which alerted not only Rei and Mari, but Aoba as well, who is still in the midst of preparing the hot dogs.

"I'll get it.", Aoba informed the girls as he made his way to the door. Once he opened the door, he was greeted by Shinji, of all people. He then said, "Oh hey Shinji. What'cha doing here, bro?"

"Ummmm...mother told me that Ayanami was hanging out here, so I decided to...well...stop by and see if she's still here", a fairly nervous sounding and looking Shinji replied, in which he was squeezing his right hand with his own strength in said hand.

"Yeah, Rei's here. So is Mari. Come inside, man. I was whipping up some hot dogs for me and the girls, but I got plenty for you as well", Aoba replied, opening up the door all the way to let Shinji come inside and hang out.

* * *

As Shinji was walking into the living room, he saw both Rei and Mari sitting by each other and calmfully told them, "Hey Makinami. Hey Ayanami. Interesting to see you both here."

Rei then saw Shinji, stood up, walked towards, hugged him, smiled at him and said, "Hey Shinji...how you're doing?"

Shinji started to hug and smile at Rei as well and replied back, "Well, i'm doing fine. Misato and mother let me come by because I wanted to see and hang out with you. Ever since Asuka moved down here, we haven't gotten the chance to be around each other much, so that's why."

Rei then replied back with a tone of curiosity, "So...speaking of our teutonic...friend...what's she up to?", after she and Shinji stopped hugging, in which Rei sat on the nearby sofa.

"Misato is looking for someone to help Asuka speaking English all the time, so she had to stay home", Shinji replied as he sat right next to Rei.

"Well, that's not a very big surprise. That germanic twat needed to eventually start speaking the language of our world, otherwise our communication between each other would be stiffled by her...unusual frankensteining of English and German.", Mari replied with a bit of snideness in her voice.

"Well...either way, we shall just relax. No school and nothing at HQ. It's a free day. Enjoy it when you can", Rei replied to both Mari and Shinji as she reclined on the couch to relax.

Aoba then came in the living room, holding a big plate full of hot dogs. He then informed, "All right. Here's the hot dogs. Chow down as many as you can.", in which the three kids then stood up and walked towards him to grab a hot dog for themselves.

* * *

Inside a house in the same neighborhood as Aoba's, a Japanese business man walks into his house, which is surprisingly dank and trashed looking. With a briefcase in his right hand, he walks around his place, wondering why it appears to be so ramshacked all of a sudden.

Out of nowhere, as he is standing in the kitchen, a muscular looking, pear colored beast of sorts slowly peaks up behind him. The man turns around to see the beast, in which his face slowly twists into a look of absolute horror. Rather than not messing around, the beast charges at him, tossing the guy around the house crashing right into his cabinents and walls.

Bloodied and bruised, the man is on the floor, virtually helpless from the monster's attacks. The monster then leans down towards the man and plants its right hand over his head, which causes his head to violently shake, up until the back of his skull bursts open, shooting out a glop of blood, brain and skull matter right into the wall.

* * *

"Hey! Did you all hear that?", Rei asked Shinji, Mari and Aoba as she was finishing up her second hot dog.

"Hear what, Ayanami?", Shinji asked Rei, not being sure of what she meant at all.

"I think I heard some guy getting trashed. Even weirder is that I feel some kind of...presence around the area.", Rei replied, with her voice being a bit serious and marginally monotonous.

"What kind of presence, Rei?", Mari curiously asked Rei, being very interested in what she has to say.

"It feels like that there is an angel nearby, but at the same time, its weird.", Rei replied, with her voice being less distant and more normal like her usual self.

"An angel? Holy crap! Shit, we gotta get to HQ...", Aoba shouted when he heard what Rei said.

However, Rei replied, "No. It feels like its next door."

Aoba suddenly replied, "That's Toshiba's place!". He then stood up, ran to the door, grabbed several baseball bats, walked back to the kids, handed one each and added, "Alright. Let's see what's going on at Toshiba's. Be cautious at it."

* * *

Aoba and the kids, all armed with baseball bats, despite Shinji being not totally game to defend himself and walked towards Toshiba's house. Aoba knocked on the door, only to have the door open up. Even though everyone else was going to go in, Shinji told them, "I will go inside, because I don't want to see you hurt again, Ayanami."

"Are you sure you want to go in? I can go in myself.", Aoba replied back, being not sure that Shinji is suitiable to do what he said he would do.

"I can do it. I need to prove myself. Stay right there, i'll be back", Shinji replied and proceeded to walk in.

Rei then shouted out, "Be careful now. I can come along to help you out."

Shinji then replied back, "I'll be back" and walked inside.

* * *

As Shinji was walking into the place, he suddenly grew more weary that he's doing this, especially since that he's not the most manly of teen boys out there. Without warning, the beast suddenly rushed out of nowhere and tackled Shinji, causing him to fly right through the wall and head first into a car outside.

* * *

Seeing Shinji crash into the car, the others suddenly gained a sense of sheer dread, but as the beast came running to outside, Agent Will, dressed in very 90s-esque casual clothes, popped out and flat out punched the beast, sending it right down to the ground.

After socking the beast out cold, he quippied, "Welcome to Tokyo-3.". He then looked at Aoba and the two girls, only to quip, "Now that's what I call a message from god."

* * *

"Is Shinji okay?", Rei's voice asked. The entire room is encased in pure darkness.

"No look. He's awakening now", Yui replied.

All of a sudden, the perspective reveals eyes opening up, seeing Rei, Mari, Aoba, Misato, Asuka, Ritsuko, Agent Will and Yui standing, looking at the person in question.

Shinji's head then is shown, in which he has bloodied bandages wrapped around his head. His simple response is, "Who are you?"


	27. Chapter 26: Casanova Shinji

**Chapter 26: Casanova Shinji

* * *

**

"I don't know who I am. I don't know who these people are? Where am I? Who am I? What am I? Can someone tell me?", the voice of Shinji Ikari cries out with a massive tone of despair. The sheer force of impact of Shinji's head against the car he was tossed into not only gave him a concussion, but also a case of amnesia.

* * *

Inside Nerv HQ's medical bay, Shinji sits on a bed, looking at his hands in a panicked fashion. His head is heavily wrapped in bloodied bandages. In the same room is Dr. Akagi and Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, who are standing by a gurney brimming with medical supplies on top of it.

"Senpai, what happened to Shinji-kun?", a worried and cutesy sounding Maya asked Ritsuko.

"Approximately five hours ago, Shinji encountered the ninth angel while visiting Aoba's while Rei and Mari were visiting. The angel had launched him at a car, in which the impact caused some head trauma and a concussion. Combined, this had resulted into a state of amnesia, as you can witness at this very moment.", Ritsuko replied.

"Will he ever recover his memories?", Maya replied and asked with a tint of concern in her voice.

"Its too early to tell", Ritsuko immediately replied back with a sense of uncertainty in her voice, "He may eventually regain his memories, but in regards to when...I don't know.".

* * *

"Man. Poor Shinji-kun. Can't believe that walking celery man did that to him.", Rei, slouched on a couch in the lounge room mutters with a tone of disappointment in her voice.

"Yeah. Here we thought we were going to have a night of sheer leisure and jamming, but instead we got a face full of angel and poor Shinji suffering a case of John Doe.", Mari replied back as she sat on the floor, back against the couch and reading an issue of NOW magazine.

Aoba emerges out of a nearby locker room, dressed in his uniform and looks at the girls to ask them, "So you two had heard any updates on Shinji?"

Both girls nodded in a downbeat matter with frowns on their faces.

"Oh", Aoba replied. "anyways, i'll see you later".

Rei and Mari then waved at Aoba as he made his way out of the lounge room.

* * *

"Ayanami, Makinami. I like you two to follow me. Let's see if we can make my son remember.", Yui Ikari walked in, informed and ordered the two girls.

Both Rei and Mari nodded in response. Mari placed the magazine down, then stood up while Rei rolled off the couch and stood up next to her friend. They then proceeded to follow Yui. in which it took them about three minutes to reach the sick bay.

* * *

As they arrived in the sick bay, Yui saw her son and calmly shouted, "Shinji-kun! How you're feeling now, my dear son?"

Shinji, with his head still wrapped in bloodied bandages, turns his head towards his mother, only to reply, "I'm sorry, miss but I don't know who you are, nor do I believe that you're my mother".

After hearing Shinji's reply, Yui scoffed, face palmed and told the girls, "You two try and snap some sense into him. This is just too disheartening."

Rei and Mari looked at Yui, nodded and proceeded to walk towards Shinji.

"Shinji...if you're still in there...tell me that you know who I am.", Rei gazed at Shinji's eyes and begged.

Shinji did not flinch and reply, only instead remaining quite and puzzled.

Irritated by Shinji's unresponsiveness, Rei's normally pale white skin turns red, in which she proceeds to edge her face right in Shinji's, grabs Shinji's shirt and screams, "Shinji-kun! I saved your life twice already! There's no way you don't remember that!"

Shinji remains silent and confused.

Mari then looks at Rei and whispers, "Face it, Rei. Shinji's noggin is fried bollocks. Until his brain retools itself, he ain't gonna give an arse about who we are."

Rei slumps her head down in defeat, nods her head in disappointment and mutters, "I give up. I'm going home", as she walks away.

* * *

Mari then looks at Yui, pushes her arms up in and twists her face with a "Well...I tried my best" look, only to walk out of the room herself. She then turns her head towards her son and walks towards him to inform, "Alright, I think its time for you to get some sleep. I'm taking you back to Major Katsuragi's".

* * *

"So Yui, you dropped our son off at Major Katsuragi's?", Gendo asked his wife, who had just returned to HQ.

"Yes, my dear. Unfortunately he has yet to recover his memory.", Yui replied with a frown of disappointment on her face. "I had his fellow pilots Rei and Mari try to get through his head, but neither of them succeeded."

"Hmmmm. So, have you concluded how severe the damage is yet?", Gendo replied back.

"No, honey. Me and Dr. Akagi have yet to receive the test results from the cat scan we performed on our son. The results should be in tomorrow", Yui responded.

"Well...I suppose that until then we'll find out if the memory loss is only temporarily.", Gendo responded back. He then added, "On the other hand, we at least have the perpetrator under custody."

Gendo then walks towards a wall in which is revealed that the angel that launched Shinji at the car is now shackled against a steel platform on the wall. Fuyutsuki is standing in front of the shackled angel.

"So what do you propose to do with the angel, Commander?", Fuyutsuki asked Gendo.

"We'll try to see if we can communicate with it and get some answers", Gendo replied while exposing a slightly sinister grin on his face.

* * *

**_7:25 AM_**

* * *

Rei is in her bed, with wrinkled sheets wrapped over her body and the bed.

The alarm clock pierces Rei's ears, causing her to slip out of bed, complete with a faint "thud" being heard.

"Oooooooh crap.", Rei groaned to herself as she got herself up. She also kept a somewhat wet, wrinkled blanket wrapped around her body, somewhat hinting that she decided to sleep without any clothes the night before. "ugh. can't believe its still hot outside."

Even though she knew that the temperature of the weather outside was maintained by the Magi, she wishes that the self-contained artificial weather system was turned off for one so she can enjoy the real weather in the outside world.

* * *

Outside of Rei's apartment room, a rather clueless looking Shinji stands right by the door. "I don't know who this person is, but my guardian told me that she is gonna take me to my school."

He then stops hesitating and rings the door bell.

* * *

Hearing the door bell ring, Re's eyes widen in shock, realizing that not only someone is at the door, but that she's not wearing a single thing, save a blanket that is loosely wrapped around her sweaty, naked body.

"Ugh.", Rei groans, in which she then keeps the blanket tightly wrapped around her and proceeds to open the door.

Outside is Shinji, who initially looks as lost and unsure as he did yesterday. However, his blank stare suddenly morphs into a look of awe, then finally a massive, lust craving grin.

At first, Rei is confused by why Shinji is looking like a complete horn dog now, but shen then realizes that the blanket she tried so hard to keep on had fallen to the floor, exposing Rei's thin, yet curvy and highly desirable naked body.

"My my. You sure have a lovely body, you snow white, blue haired angel.", Shinji told Rei in an unusually husky voice.

Rei's cheeks turn red in embarrassment and immediately slaps Shinji in the face, proceeding to slam the door shut and lock it. Rei then stomps her way towards the bathroom to get dressed into one of her school uniforms.

* * *

"Oh my sweet, sweet porcelain skinned angel. I so love to see your gorgeous, snow white body again", Shinji belted out, apparently attempting to ape Barry White with his voice.

* * *

The door then opens up again, revealing Rei, wearing the standard issue school uniform. She the stomps out of her apartment room, locks the door, grabs Shinji by his shirt and drags him along.

* * *

"So...my sweet angel. You're taking me to my school, right?", Shinji asked in a kiss ass matter.

"Shut up, Shinji. Whatever made you act like this has to go.", Rei groaned in irritation as she dragged Shinji by his shirt.

"Oh come on, my love. We could do it like bunnies all night. All you need to do is say yes.", Shinji whispered in a horny tone.

Completely unamused by Amnesiac Shinji's sudden casanova turn and out of character, forceful lust for her, Rei lets go of Shinji and swiftly kicks him in the gut.

"Oooooh ho, boy. Love certainly hurts, my lovely angel.", Shinji coughs out while keeping his goofy grin, despite noticeable twitches of pain in his face.

Rei then grabs Shinji, pulls him up and yells, "The thing is, Ikari...I really like you, but I don't like this...tail chaser that you have become."

Shinji pauses for a second with a confused, blank stare, but then wiggles his head back to its shit eating grin, replying, "Oh come on, my love. You must love me somehow, right?"

Rei, still irritated by Shinji's new self, simply grumbles to herself, "Ugh", grabs Shinji by the shirt again and continues to drag him along.

* * *

Still dragging the newly sexually lusting Shinji along, Rei had finally arrived at school, in which she then let go of her fellow pilot, telling him, "Alright, Shinji. This is your school and this is your classroom. Try not to hit on any other gals. No one else would buy it."

Shinji then took a glance at Rei and chuckled, "Heh. I bet there are many more lovely ladies in there aside from you, my sweet pale angel.", which drew an instant facepalm from Rei in sheer annoyance.

Rei then opened the door to her class, in which she then promptly made her way to her desk. Mari, Toji, Kensuke, Claire and even DesuLoli waved at Rei as she walked to her desk. All she did was wave back and show off a warm smile. Although Asuka was there, she did not make any effort to wave at Rei, instead appearing to be pouting in irritation with her arms clamped together, hiding her chest.

A few seconds later, Shinji then pokes his head into the room, pulls it back, then slides into the room, announcing, "Hey, y'all! I head this is my class, so I totally can't wait to get things rocking in here!", which causes Rei to facepalm.

"Ummm...when did Shinji ever act like this?", Kensuke whispered to Toji while sounding confused.

"Never recalled him acting like this. Let's see what he does at lunch time before we jump to conclusions", Toji whispered back, sounding a lot less puzzled then Kensuke.

Shinji stayed standing there, looking like a complete idiot for a few more seconds, up until Class Rep. Hikari shouted, "Shinji. Get to your desk. Class is about to start soon."

Shinji turned around and saw Hikari, in which he suddenly felt a blast of ecstasy and butterflies in his gut. In his head, a vision of Hikari, looking all seductive and sexy, complete with hearts floating around in a hot pink backdrop and a noticeable haze covering the view.

"I know you want me and my body, sexy thing.", Vision Hikari told Shinji in a very wet, hot manner while sexually caressing her lips with her tongue and winking her eyes.

"Oh yes, yes, yes I do, beautiful.", Shinji muttered in sheer awe as he witnessed this visual wet dream in his imagination.

"I said get to your set, Shinji.", Hikari, in real life, shouted at Shinji, with her voice growing increasingly frustrated.

"Okay, my dear.", Shinji kindly replied and struted to his seat.

"Ummm...dear? Dear? what the heck was that about?", Hikari asked herself in a very puzzled fashion over Shinji calling her "dear" all of a sudden. She then proceeded to walk towards and sit on her own desk, resuming her Class Rep. duties like if nothing happened.


	28. Chapter 27: Organic Memory Retrieval

**Chapter 27: Organic Memory Retrieval

* * *

**

"Kristina, have you ever considered writing a story?" Claire asked DesuLoli

"Yes, i've been writing one." DesuLoli replied. "actually it's more a fanfiction than anything else,"

"FanFiction?" Claire scoffed in response. "You gotta be kidding me?"

"What's the matter?" DesuLoli replied, sounding surprised.

"I thought fanfiction was something that was looked down by others.", Claire replied back. "Aren't they?"

"Well. The thing is that not everyone hates fanfiction. I, for one is a big fan of them" DesuLoli responded. She then whispered to herself "As long as its not Buster Lagann fanfiction."

"So what kind of fanfiction have you been writing?" a curious sounding Claire asked DesuLoli.

"I'm writing a Naruleach fic" DesuLoli immediately replied.

"Naruleach." Claire replied. "I remember watching a few episodes of that. I thought it was alright."

"Yeah. Even though I love it, its not my all time favorite anime." DesuLoli responded. "I just chose it as a first time stab at fanfiction because its easy to make fics of it."

* * *

"Heeeey laaaaadies!" a joyful sounding Shinji strutted up to the girls to inform them of his present.

"Uh Shinji. You sound a little weird." Claire asked him.

"Oh no I don't, sweet sweet Claire. In fact, I feel like a million bucks." Shinji replied while grinning.

"Are you trying to hit on me, Shinji?" Claire asked him. "My father would tear a new asshole out of you if he found out."

"Well...crap." Shinji replied with a slight frown on his face.

* * *

Not entirely put down, Shinji then immediately switched his crosshires towards DesuLoli. He asked, "So DesuLoli. May I...well...ask your lovely self out?"

"Sorry Shinji." DesuLoli replied. "I already got a boyfriend."

"Oh." Shinji immediately replied back with a look of disappointment on his face. "Anyways you lovely girls, I got some other matters to deal with. Chow!"

The girls then saw Shinji strut by them as he walked away in favor of a new locale, only to resume their previous activities.

* * *

"Seriously, is this your best idea?" Fuyutsuki asked, looking puzzled.

"Well if we can manage to communicate with an angel, we might be able to understand why they're attacking Tokyo-3." Gendo replied.

The currently man sized angel is now sitting on a metal chair and has his arms handcuffed.

Yui and Ritsuko walk into the room, spot the odd sight of the restrained angel and stand by Gendo and Fuyutsuki.

Yui asks, "Gendo, my darling?"

"Yes dear." Gendo replies.

"Are you crazy. Do you think you can keep that angel restrained for long?" Yui added, being very horrified and confused by the nearly suicidal display she's seeing. "I don't even think those cuffs are strong enough for it."

"Yes. I may be a little over my head here, but I think I can find out the truth." Gendo replied back while exposing a slight grin.

Gendo then gazes at Agent Will and Agent Smith, who are sitting on a table and eating lunch. He waves his hand at them and says, "Agents. I like you guys to help me out with me."

"Lemme guys Mr. Ikari." Agent Will stands up and replies while chewing on a sandwich. "you want us to see if we can talk with the angel?"

"Correct." Gendo replied.

"Sure thing" Agent Will replied without hesitation.

"Yeah, you go ahead, Will. You've experienced plenty of close encounters before so you have the honor of doing the job." Agent Smith added.

"Okay okay, guys. Hold your asses. Sheesh." Agent Will grumbles to himself as he walks towards to the table the restrained angel is sitting at. He then sits himself on a chair facing directly at the one the angel is sitting in. He then looks at Commander Ikari, asking him "May I have two pencils and two pages of plain white paper?"

Rather than Gendo being the one to spring into action, Ritsuko walks towards him and says, "I'll have Lieutenant Ibuki come over here and drop off the requested items."

* * *

"Phew. That was a rather...disappointing day." Shinji inquires to himself. "Lemme see what I can do to fix that."

He then takes his cellphone out of his pocket and examines it. He enters the "Contact List" section in the phone and scrolls through it, landing on "Father."

"Hmmmm...maybe this guy that's my daddy can hook me up with impress money." Shinji adds.

He then dials the number in hopes his father will answer it.

* * *

"Now. Can you tell me why you otherwordly punks are trying to do to us poor humans?" Agent Will writes on his piece of paper. He then hands it to the angel, which apparently is able to read it.

It then reaches for its pencil and writes its response. It hands the paper to Agent Will, who reads it.

"Why should I tell you anything, Lilin trash!" Agent Will reads. He then asks "What the hell is a lilin?"

"Well...ummmm...ummm" Commander Ikari begins to reply. However, he is interrupted by his cellphone ringing. He informs the others "Hang on a second. I got a call to answer."

"Hey daddy-o!" Shinji boasts out on the other line. "Can you hook me up with a suit and some cash?"

Surprised about his son's new tone, Gendo replies ,"Shinji, you sound different. I will have someone meet up with you to deliver a suit and some money at the city square."

"Thanks, pops." Shinji replied. "Catch you later."

Shiinji simply hangs up the phone, leaving his father on the other line. Gendo then turns his head towards Agent Smith and informs, "Agent Smith. I want you to grab a spare suit and thirty dollars to deliver it to my son at the city square."

"Affirmative, Commander Ikari." Agent Smith replies and walks out of the room.

Agent Will then turns his head to Gendo again and asks, "Now...can someone tell me what the hell is a lilin?"

"Ummm...Agent Will. Just continue with the conversation." Yui replies, looking a bit weary to explain.

* * *

"So this is my suit, right?" Shinji asks Agent Smith. Both of them are standing near a restaurant in the city square, which isn't too far from the shopping center.

"Affirmative." Agent Smith replies. He then reaches his right hand into his pocket and pulls out some cash, hands it over to Shinji and informs "Here's some money as well. Now I have to go back to HQ."

Agent Will then promptly leaves, leaving Shinji to do what he needs to do with the suit and money.

"Sweet. Now I gotta see if I can score some hot babes." Shinji tells himself. He then runs into a nearby bathroom to get change, which takes him about five minutes tops to do.

* * *

He finally re-emerges from the bathroom, now dressed in a sleek black business suit and some black sunglasses. He struts with a goofy grin on his face, telling himself, "Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm one sexy beast. Time to hit some shops."

He starts walking through the streets in a very dance/strut like manner, pointing his fingers and smiling at various girls that he passes by. He then comes across the record shop and tells himself, "Hmmm. Maybe I can get a CD with something sexy on its cover. That should do it."

* * *

He walks into the record shop, in which the cashier asks, "Hey kid. You sure look like you wanna bang some chicks. What'cha want?"

Shinji looks at the cashier and replies, "Well...give me a CD with the sexiest, hottest cover out you got. I really want to make a deal with some sexy babes and I think that'll do the job."

The cashier replies, "No problemo, kid."

He reaches his hand towards underneath the counter and pulls out a CD and chuckles to himself, "I think this will really attract the ladies. Hee hee hee."

After grabbing the CD, the cashier hands it to Shinji and replies, "Here you go kid. Sixteen dollars and twenty five cents."

Shinji takes a look at the CD art. At first, he has a rather shocked, marginally befuddled reaction to seeing it. However, he immediately says, "Well. That guy sure has a big weiner. Girls love big weiners, right?"

"Correct, my man." the cashier replies. "Now just hand over the cash and we can go our own happy ways."

"Sure thing, dude." Shinji responds. He then pulls out eighteen dollars out of his pocket and hands it to the cashier.

"Thanks man." the cashier informs Shinji. "You have a good day now and good luck on reeling in the tail."

"Same here to you too." Shinji responds, waves at the cashier and walks out of the record shop.

* * *

"From what I have heard, Shinji has been trying to hit on all the girls today. When did he hit puberty so suddenly?" Toji asked Rei. Them, as well as Mari, Kensuke and Claire are sitting on a table near a fast food joint.

"Well." Rei replied. "The other day he had a run in with an angel. The thing had launched him directly at a car and boy, lemme tell you. I swear he hit the car like a ragdoll being thrown at a wall. It was nasty. Fortunately enough, he had managed to survive, but at the cost of his memory. That was fine...until...well..." However, Rei begin to start becoming more weary of continuing explaining the evets that had unfold since yesterday.

"Well what, Rei?" Toji asks Rei, being curious of what Rei has to say next.

Mari then stands up and picks up where Rei left off, adding, "Shinji stopped by Rei's place earlier. For some reason, she decided to sle...".

However, not really liking what her friend was about to say, Rei informs Mari, "Don't even say it. I already had to deal with enough junk today and I sure as hell don't want you to tell the boys that Shinji came to my place when I had just gotten up from sleeping in the nude last night...oh."

"Oh what.", Toji replied.

"Well it looks like Ayanami just spilled the beans." Toji added.

Rei, being annoyed that she flat out informed the boys what she did not want them to know, started to lightly beat her head against the table surface while groaning, "Dammit, dammit, dammit."

"Anyways." Mari continues. "Shinji managed to see Rei naked and that's what triggered his raging horniness that has been persisting for the day."

After hearing Mari say that, Toji simply replies, "Heh. Never knew that was the ticket to make him man up."

"Yeah." Kensuke adds.

Claire also adds, "Guys. Shinji tried to ask me out. If my father found out, he would be roadkill!."

"Jeez, Claire." Mari replies. "Your father sure is a sour puss."

"I know, I know." Claire replies back. "He's all I got left, though."

"Oh. Never knew that. Sorry." Mari responds.

"Hey, y'all." Shinji boasts as he struts towards the others. "Nice to see you all. Especially the lovely ladies."

"Hey Shinji." Toji replies. "What's up with the suit?"

"This?" Shjinji replies back. "Oh, i'm just wearing it for the ladies here."

"Tell me, Shinji." Mari asks Shinji. "What you got for us, then?"

Shinji then whips out the CD he bought. Rather than garnering the expected reactions, everyone in front of his gasps in shock, horror and sheer disgust.

"Shinji! What the hell is that?" Mari groans in disgust. "You really think that an album with some twat's gristle creaming his stuff into a bowl of cereal is sexy?"

"Ummm...well...I though the guy's big wong would impress you ladies." Shinji replies with a tone of disappointment in his voice.

Rei then stands up, walks to Shinji and tells him, "Seriously Shinji. Why. Just why did you have to bring that painful image back into my head?" She then grabs him by his suit tie and adds "I wish I never saw that repulsive sight in my life again and here you come to rub it into my eyes."

"Rei, Shinji and Mari!" a voice yells out to them in a smooth tone. "I need to take you cool cats to HQ. Some really bad things just happened and everyone needs your help."

"Kaji. Nice to see you around." Rei replies as she turns her head. She also notices Shiro getting out of a van, only to stumble out and fall on the ground like a drunkened fool.

"Same here, Rei-san." Kaji replies. He then sees Shinji and adds "Looking sharp there, Shinji. what's that you got in...OH GOD. WHAT IS THAT!"

Shinji realizes that he's still holding the CD out in clear view. Embarrased, he puts it back in its back and replies, "Sorry Kaji."

"Forget it." Kaji replies back. "Anyways, we gotta go."

"Alright." the three pilots reply and run towards the van. They all wave at the others before departing.

Before Kaji gets back in the van, he helps Shiro up while telling him, "Shiro bro, stop getting drunk. You're even worse than Misato. Sheesh."

"Ohw dohn't mahind mi Kaji, mah buddie. Ih'llh beh fahine, juhst hehlp mi uph." Shiro slurs as Kaji gets him back into the car, only to get into the driver's seat himself to start up the ignition and drive off to HQ.

* * *

At HQ, Misato informs the three pilots via a comlink, since they are in their Evangelions, "Now. Normally Asuka would accompany you guys but she's at home with a friend getting English lessons so she can stop talking in German all the time."

"Who's that?", Rei asks Misato.

"She's a nice person. She told me that she's a fellow classmate of yours and apologizes for being mean in class and that its her job to be strict in class towards you all."

"Hikari. The class rep?" Mari asks Misato.

"I think that's her name. Anyways you three need to find the angel. It has managed to escape during its interrogation. Thankfully, Agent Will only received a flesh wound...well..in a place that's rather embarrassing to tell you guys."

"Yeah. I rather not hear that." Rei replies. "So where is the angel?"

"Negative. The angel is not showing up on our radar." Maya informs the pilots.

However, the angel is climbing on the back of Unit 01 heading towards Shinji's entry plug.

"Shinji. The angel is making its way to your plug!" Aoba shouts.

"What. That seems...rather silly." Shinji replies. "I think I can just squash it like a bug."

The other two pilots make their EVAs run towards Unit 01 in hopes of catching the angel. However, it has already opened the entry plug and entered it.

The angel spots Shinji and immediately rushes towards him, pulling him out of the cockpit. It then stars punching Shinji with rather heavy blows to his head and body, finishing it by tossing him back towards the cockpit head first.

Before the angel could go in for the kill, a giant blue hand reaches right into the entry plug, pulling the angel right out of it.

The hand belongs to none other than Unit 00. Rei then yells, "You brussel sprout colored bastard has caused us a lot of grief. Time for you to take a free falling ride!" She then asks "Can someone open the entryway shaft?"

"Why?" Yui asks Rei.

"I got a rotten vegetable to send on its maiden voyage." Rei replies.

"Sure thing." Gendo replies. He then turns to Yui and whispers, "Never thought of disposing an angel like that before."

"Opening entryway shaft." Maya shouts out as she presses a button that opens the shaft.

Rei then sees the shaft open and makes Unit 00 walks towards. As the angel struggles to get out of Unit 01's grasps, she then makes her EVA look down at the shaft and shouts out, "Go back to the grocery market you came from!".

She then makes Unit 01 take a few steps back, pull its arm back, then makes it toss the angel right down into the shaft as if it threw a hardball at a World Series game on its last minutes.

The helpless angel falls fast and hard down the shaft, eventually bumping roughly into the walls as if it was in a pinball machine, eventually falling down to the floor, splatting and crushing onto the floor as the moment of impact happens, killing it immediately.

"The target has been eliminated." Maya informs everyone. "However, Shinji's vital signs are not good. Not good at all."

* * *

"Shinji. Shinji. Shinji. Are you feeling better now?" Rei's voice asks through the darkness.

Shinji then opens his eyes, seeing that Rei, Mari, Misato, Maya, Ritsuko, Yui and Fuyutsuki are standing in front of him. He is now dressed in a hospital gown and sporting bandages on his head once again. However, he then says "Rei. Is that you?"

"Yes. Its me." Rei replies.

"That's nice to hear." Shinji replies back. He then adds "I sure had the weirdest dream, like if I was some idiot wanting to rudely get into the pants of random girls."

"Phew." Rei exhaled in response. "The Shinji I know is back."

"That's good to hear." Mari adds. "though seeing Shinji acting like a total douche was kinda fun to see."

"Yeah. Sort of." Rei replies. "but that was not my Shinji."

* * *

Inside the EVA cage, The Dark One has entered it without the alterts going off. He is standing by the broken, bloodied corpse of the angel,, only to growl "Well, i'll see what I can do with this, considering that it died as a human sized being."

He then grabs the angel's corpse by its right arm and starts to drag it right into the darkness.


	29. Chapter 28: Seeing Double Trouble

**Chapter 28: Seeing Double Trouble

* * *

**

**_7:09 AM

* * *

_**

Rei is sleeping in her bed.

It being a Sunday, she has no need to worry to get to school or anything in that nature, so she's all sound asleep.

Not to mention that to avoid repeating the same mistake, she slept wearing a white sleeping gown the night before.

However...her cell phone starts to shriek to life, immediately waking her up.

"Ugh. Why now?" Rei groans to herself as she crawls out of bed to reach for her cell.

She picks it up, opens it up, answers it and asks, "Hello?"

"Rei, my darling. Been a while since we spoke." the voice on the other line replies. Its her mother, who is laying on a bench in a beach.

"Mom. Why are you calling so early?" Rei asks her mother, still feeling a bit groggy from her slumber being interrupted.

"Oh. Its morning over there?" she replies. "Sorry about that."

"Well...that's okay." Rei replies while smiling.

"Anyways, how has it been going for you?" her mother asks her in response.

"Well..aside from some stupid events and of course my mishap on New Year's Day, i've been doing very well." Rei replies as she scoots herself to the edge of the bed, allowing her body from the head up to the back down to hang off the bed.

"Ah." her mother replies back. "I did hear about your mishap. I was so worried about you when I got the news. However, you are in the Ikaris' hands and me and your father completely trust them to take care of you."

"Oh.. .that." Rei replies, feeling a bit embarrassed that her mother knows about her grisly accident back in January. "At least I completely healed up since."

"Thank goodness." her mother immediately replies. Her husband/Rei's father walks towards her and hands her a margarita, which she replies, "Thanks hun." and takes a sip of it. She then resumes talking to her daughter. "So...did you get to meet the Ikaris' son?"

"Yes, mom." Rei replies back as her face shows off her typically warm, angelic smile. "He's very nice. A bit quiet, but very nice. Very cute too."

"I figured you two would like each other." Rei's mother replies while smiling. She pauses again to take a sip of her margarita, then resumes talking. "The moment you two crossed paths when you were little kids, I figured out that you were made for each other."

Rei keeps smiling as she converses with her mother via her cellphone, but a knock on the door alerts her, leading her to tell her mother, "Excuse me. I got company. I'll call you back later."

"Okay, sweetie." Rei's mother replies. She then adds "Goodbye." and hangs up.

Rei, knowing that her mother has hanged up, puts her cellphone away. She stands up and dashes towards the door, shouting ,"Hold on, i'm coming."

* * *

As she cracks the door open and peaks through said opening, she catches a glimpse of Yui Ikari standing outside.

Yui sees Rei peeking through the door, smiles, waves at her and says "Hey Rei. I'm here to pick you up."

Rei then replies, "Oh hi, Mrs. Ikari. Gimme a second, I need to get ready."

"Okay then" Yui replies back as she continues to smile and stand outside.

Rei makes a mad dash to her drawers, opens them up and grabs a red T-shirt, blue jeans, a belt, white socks and black bra and panties, only to head towards the bathroom and enters it.

She quickly gets dressed while tidying herself up, as well as brushinhgg her teeth and whatnot, then leaves the bathroom, all dressed up, grabs her keys and cellphone, puts her shoes on, opens the door, walks outside, shuts the door, locks it up and approach Mrs. Ikari.

* * *

"So...Rei. How you're doing?" Mrs. Ikari asks her.

"Fine." Rei replies while lightly scratching her head. "My mom called and wanted to know how i'm doing."

"Oh that's nice of her" Yui replies back. "I did call her about your accident from your first angel battle when it happened. She wasn't too pleased, but I calmed her down."

"Yeah." Rei responds. "She told me about that. However, I did tell her that i'm feeling better now." Rei then added and asked Yui, "So...why are you here to pick me up?"

"Well, since the others are at Nerv already, you were the only one that wasn't there." Yui replies, as she, with Rei by her side, starts to make their way to the car.

* * *

Inside the car, Rei asks Yui, "So what's going on at HQ?"

"I guess my father is doing something there." Shinji speaks out, surprising Rei, which in turn, makes her turn around to look at the back seats, spotting Shinji sitting on the right back seat.

"Hey Shinji-kun...surprised to see you here." Rei informs him with an angelic smile.

"Oh hi Rei." Shinji replies. "Mother asked me to come along to pick you up, so here I am."

"Well...I also felt that he needed some time out of HQ and Misato's." Yui adds. "He doesn't get too much elsewhere, except in school."

Rei, remembering Asuka, asks Shinji, "So what about...ummm...Asuka. How she's doing?"

"Fine." Shinji replies. "Hikari is helping her out speak fluent English. Been doing so since a week ago."

"Ah. That's why I haven't seen her outside of school much recently." Rei inquires as she replies. "So is she getting better?"

"If you put it that way...sort of." Shinji replies back. "Her English..is very choppy."

"Not to mention, you'll get to see her at HQ, Rei." Yui informs her.

"So what is going on HQ, then, Miss Ikari?" Rei asks her, still curious about this little event going on.

"You'll see." Yui replies with a slight smirk on her face.

However...Rei notices a book in the glove compartment, which, while mostly obscured by other things in there, has the letters C and A visible on the spine. Right before she could pull it out, Yui notices that said glove compartment is open and shuts it while telling her, "Oh...that. Don't worry about it. Nothing of importance to see", complete with a look of sheer nervousness on her face.

Rei gives Yui a funny look and turns her attention back to Shinji.

* * *

About 10 minute later, all three have arrived and are rushing their way through the hallway with Yui taking the lead.

"So...where are we going?" Rei asks Yui. "Are we late?"

"Just a little." Yui replies with a noticeable wheeze in her voice.

Suddenly, they find themselves by an area where a lot of the staff, as well as Mari and Asuka are standing at, which leads to them to slow down and Yui to inform Rei and Shinji, "Okay..we're here."

* * *

Rei spots Mari, grabs Shinji by the arm, calmly whispers to him, "Let's talk to Mari." and walks towards her.

Standing right behind her, Rei sways her head right next to Mari's right eye and whispers, "Still wanting to talk to your Kensuke?", which lightly startles her.

Mari turns around, sees Rei and outright hugs her while saying, "Oh Rei. Glad to see you. I got worried!"

However, Mari's clutch is a bit too hard, which causes Rei to sqeulch out, Ummmm...Mari...loosen the grip."

"Oh...my bad." Mari apologizes, which she subsequently lets go of her grasp.

Rei then replies, "It's okay. I had it worse. Anyways...how you're doing?"

"I'm feeling nang right now." Mari replies back with a big, goofy smile on her face as she readjusts her glasses. "How 'bout you?"

"I'm doing good." Rei responds. "My mom called me right before Ms. Ikari came by."

"Ah...that's nice to hear." Mari replies. "I was wondering if they ever called ya, because if they didn't, I would've called bollocks."

"Heh...yeah." Rei replies back. "It would've sucked if they never bothered to call, but yeah...at least mom did so."

Mari nods in response, then whispers to herself, "Then again, my pa never bothers to call."

Noticing that Shinji is standing next to Rei, Mari asks him, "So...how you're doing, Shinji?"

"Fine." Shinji quietly replies.

However...Asuka suddenly stomps her way towards Mari and shouts at her, "Englander. You stop saying to Shinji. We have fight to deal."

Mari, somewhat confused by Asuka's odd usage of English, replies, "Oh...that's right. We still have a bloody fight to take care of."

"Yes. We fight soon, because me doesn't liken your.", Asuka shouts in response.

However, Gendo, who's standing in front of familiar looking doors standing next to each other, grunts in disapproval at Asuka, which causes her to tell Mari, "Sorry. We taken care of some fight late."

* * *

Putting that aside, everyone moves their attention to Gendo, who announces, "Now...before you ask why we're all here, I will tell you why. The thing is that i've been very...well...how do I put this...ummmm...greedy. See, I have this...ummmm...arcade room that is in front of us all, but until now...I never let anyone and I mean, anyone near it. So without further ado, I hereby open this arcade room...TO THE ENTIRE STAFF!"

He then kicks the doors open and turns the arcade power on, which causes the entire room to spring to life in a vast array of colors, all illuminating from the Arcade cabinets, pinball machines, pachinko machines, claw grabs and other such games and whatnot.

Everyone, sans Misato, who managed to get a glimpse of the arcade a few days back, and Maya, who has a rather apathetic view towards the concept of having an arcade, is estatic and rather joyous over the fact that they got another place to blow steam after some more strenuous days of work.

* * *

They all proceed into the room, but Gendo suddenly informs everyone, "There is a catch, though."

"What is it, Commander Ikari?" Mari asks him, being a bit confused over that there's more to it than initially thought.

"Someone has to beat me at some games first before everyone else can get a piece of the arcade." Gendo replies with a impish grin on his face. He then continues by adding, "So...whoever is brave enough to take me on..STEP RIGHT UP AND MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!"

At first, no one steps up to the plate to challenge Commander Ikari. At first, Rei attempts to step up, but instead balks out, fearing ridicule for losing against a man 33 years older than her, especially considering her amazing gaming skills, best displayed in combat training.

Mari does think about it, but figures its not worth her time to do so.

Asuka, despite wanting to do so, recalls her confrontation with the punks at the downtown arcade and is intimidated by Commander Ikari, so she does not attempt to fight her superior.

Shinji, due to his shaky relationship with his father, refuses to challenge him.

No one else even bothers to step up to challenge him..except one person.

This person in question raises their hand up, which causes everyone to turn their heads towards her, causing everyone, except Gendo, to have shocked looks on their faces.

Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, of all people, walks up to Gendo. Staring right into Gendo's eyes, she nods and mouths off something to him.

Gendo mouths off back to her and nods his head, which causes Maya to nod her head in response. He then turns to the others and informs, "Looks like I got myself a challenger in none other than Lieutenant Maya Ibuki. Its up to her for beat me and make the arcade fully open for everyone. If she fails...then tough luck. No arcade for you all, but enough of that...let's get started, okay?"

He then escorts Maya to a Street Fighter Alpha 3 arcade cabinet, which she takes the left side and he takes the right side.

* * *

While Gendo chooses M. Bison, which is an obvious choice, Maya surprisingly chooses Juli over other, more well-known characters.

Mari, confused about Maya's selection, but more so having no knowledge of the character, asks Rei, "Who the bloody hell is Juli?"

"Oh...her." Rei replies. "Ever seen that one Street Fighter anime where she snapped out of it and went on a death wish revenge spree on Bison?"

"I'm 'fraid not." Mari immediately replies back, still having little to no knowledge of what her friend is talking about.

"You should. Its...violent. Very violent." Rei responds with a grin on her face.

"Ah...i'll consider checking it out, then." Mari replies.

* * *

They then resume watching Gendo and Maya's showdown, which initially seems like Maya has no chance to win...but then she, in game, starts wailing on Gendo, to the point where she wins with a Perfect and a Super Finish.

The second round begins and the results are the same. Gendo's character getting owned by Maya's.

Since he lost the fight, Gendo then turns around and tells everyone with a frustrated look on his face, "Well...the thing is that its not over yet. We still got several...err..more challenges before this arcade is open."

* * *

He then moves Maya to a Time Crisis cabinet. The two begin a points challenge in the game, but in the span of 20 minutes, Maya outpoints Gendo without even breaking a sweat.

Growing increasingly frustrated, Gendo finally shouts out, "Okay, Maya...LET'S DANCE!" and points at a Dance Dance Revolution game pad/cabinet.

* * *

The two start to compete in a major dance-off, but Gendo's lack of balance and finesse makes him look like a complete joke, while Maya easily dances her way through the whole session.

Due to being outclasses by Maya, Gendo sighs and limply informs everyone, "Okay...arcade's open. I got business to intend to. Have fun." and walks away, leading everyone to enjoy the games in there. Maya herself, rather than staying, decides to walk out of the room as well.

* * *

About a good hour later, the alarms start screaming with a person on the loudspeaker shouting, "Attention. All pilots head to the EVA Cage, especially Shinji and Asuka. I repeat, head to the EVA Cage...now!"

Shinji and Asuka look at each other and simply nod as they charge out of the arcade room. Rei and Mari simply follow to see what's up, as well as that they are required to be there anyways.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, Shinji and Asuka are in their Evangelions. The EVAs are standing in the waters of a dock, both looking at a gray colored angel.

Inside the command center, Rei and Mari are watching Shinji and Asuka via a large screen monitor as the others are giving directions and monitoring the pilots and EVAs.

Asuka immediately makes Unit 02 grab an assault rifle and starts shooting at the angel, only for its AT Field to deflect the bullets. Shinji runs up to the angel and attempts to pierce the AT Field, only for Unit 01 to be pushed away from it and right into a boathouse.

"Dammit, Baka Shinji. You no helps.", Asuka grunts at Shinji in annoyance.

"I'm trying i'm trying." Shinji immediately replies back.

Asuka makes Unit 02 grab a dual blade spear and runs right up to the angel. She ducks the angel's attacks and makes several strikes at it, piercing both the AT Field and its skin.

Shinji manages to have Unit 01 get back up again and dash towards the angel to assist Asuka.

"Shinji. Let's take this angel and show its need to beaten." Asuka shouts at Shinji in a slightly bloodthirsty way.

"Ooookay, then." Shinji replies, still being puzzled by Asuka's poor English.

"Let kick ass!" Asuka shouts as she and Shinji make their EVA assume a fighting stance.

The two eventually wail on the angel until its simply split in half.

"Well, not bad, Shinji." Asuka tells Shinji in an unusually non-hostile voice.

"Ummm...thanks." Shinji nervously replies.

* * *

"Well at least she's not being a total arse." Mari informs Rei.

"Yeah." Rei replies back. "That's good to see."

* * *

Both Shinji and Asuka initially seemed to be satisfied and start to walk away, but the two halves of the seemingly deceased angel turns into duplicates and dash right at both EVAs, with Misato screaming, "You two watch out!"

Before Shinji and Asuka could retaliate, the two angels attack both EVAs, right up until the EVAs are hurling into the sky and immediately land into the ground, head first, with their legs sticking up in the air.

* * *

Face palming, Misato growls, "I am verry disappointed." and forces her head right into her arms and onto the nearby table, completely embarrassed by the failure of this battle.


	30. Chapter 29: Dance of War

**Chapter 29: Dance of War

* * *

**

"Shinji. Asuka. You two deeply disappoint me. I am ashamed." Misato growls at the two EVA pilots.

Them and most of the others of Nerv are also inside the room, which is mostly darkened, with the exception of various multicolored lights illuminating in the background.

"Well I thought they did okay. We had no clue of what the angel could do." Gendo remarks back in a fairly laid back tone.

"Ummm...Gendo. Don't we have a reputation to preserve?" Fuyutsuki asks him with a somewhat confused and irritated look.

"Reputation." Gendo replies, not being sure about what Kozo is talking about. However, he realizes something and adds, "Excuse me, but I just remembered that my presence is needed elsewhere." He looks at his wife and asks her, "Can you fill in for me, darling?"

"Ooookay, honey." Yui replies back at him, somewhat perplexed by him being in a hurry all of a sudden.

"Okay, great. Bye!" Gendo shouts out in a very hurried fashion as he takes a mad dash out of the room.

* * *

"Ummm...now what?" Asuka asks Misato.

"Oooooh, you two need to work together better. You childish lack of cooperation makes us look bad." Misato gripes.

"Well...we wern't doing that bad." Shinji calmly replies.

"Oi. We do bad, baka Shinji. Bad we do." Asuka growls back, looking flustured.

"See. This is exactly what i'm talking about ,you too." Mistao sharply growls at them. She then turns her head towards Yui and whispers, "Please scold your son. You're his mother."

Yui. In a deeply deadpan and bored manner, tells Shinji, "Yeah yeah yeah, you failed us. You're a bad boy." only to turn back towards Misato, whisper, "Seriously, Misato...you're really taking this way too hard. Like what my husband said, we had no clue of what the angel is capable of doing. Plus, the kids wern't that bad, so i'm just gonna go grab a lunch." and, like her husband, proceeds to leave the room.

* * *

With her face turning red, Misato starts to scrunch her face down and grits her teeth together as she starts to growl in absolute anger and dissatisfaction. She then quickly turns to Shinji and Asuka, only to scream at them, "Look what you did!"

Fuyutsuki walks up to Misato and tells her, "Even I think you're being too hard on them."

"Too hard?" Misato gripes in frustration. "I'm doing my job, Subcommander. I'm supposed to be their superior and guardian. If I need to be harsh, then I must, even to the disapproval of their parents."

Fuyutsuki, in response, facepalms and walks away quietly complaining, "She's just like her father. Very adamantley dedicated to her craft. Sheesh."

With both the Ikaris and Fuyutsuki away, Misato, once again, refocuses her attention to Shinji and Asuka by telling them, "Now...once we get back to my place, i'm gonna train you to defeat that angel. No ifs, ands or buts."

"Okay, Misato." Shinji and Asuka groan in unison and follow her as she walks out of the room, leaving everyone else alone.

* * *

"Well...that was strange." Rei quips sarcastically.

"Ol' Misato needs to just stop acting like a sad arse." Mari replies in an equally snarky tone.

"Thing is, Mari...I dunno. Grown ups can be so anal sometimes." Rei replies back.

"No shite." Mari quickly responds. "Papa was real bollocks to me back when I lived with him in Blackpool." She then follows that by quietly telling herself "Especially after mama was killed." in a much more serious tone.

* * *

_**Meanwhile...

* * *

**_

Gendo is walking into a darkened room, nearly out of breath.

However, a familiar demonic robotic voice accompanied by two eerie red lights roars out, "Commander Ikari. A bit later than I expected!"

"Ummm...please give me a second. I need to catch my breath." Gendo wheezes at The Dark One as he puts his left hand against a wall to lean on it.

"Suit yourself." The Dark One growls as he walks back into the shadows.

Gendo stops leaning on the walk, heads towards his desk and sits down on his chair. Next to him is an ice chest, which he opens it up and pulls out an ice cold bottle of water.

"So...what is it you want, Dark One?" Gendo asks him after he chugs some water down.

"I saw the failure of the fight against the angel. Very interesting." The Dark One growls at Gendo in response after he walks back towards Gendo's desk.

"Interesting, What was so interesting. The sight of seeing two kids get their asses kicked by an angel?" Gendo yells at The Dark One, not sure of what he's getting at.

"No no no." The Dark One growls back. "I was talking about the angel's ability to assexually reproduce when damaged."

"Ummm...I don't think that's what it was doing." Gendo quickly replies, disputing The Dark One's theory.

"Oh wait...even better." The Dark One growls in excitement.

"Oh ho. Be my guest." Gendo replies in a deadpan tone.

"The angel may in fact be legion." The Dark One adds.

"Legion. What the hell are you talking about?" Gendo questions The Dark One.

"Oh that's right. You're not familiar with Christian mythology. Disregard that." The Dark One lightly chuckles, though even that sounds relatively demonic with his robotic voice.

Hmph!" Gendo remarks, not being amused.

But right before his eyes, The Dark One is nowhere to be seen.

* * *

"Damn. Always disappears without warning." Gendo inquires.

"Who always disappears without warning, honey?" Yui asks her husband.

"Oh no one, Yui." Gendo replies in a embarrased tone, even sporting a sweatdrop on his face.

"Well...okay then. I'll just take it that you saw a ghost." Yui replies. "Besides, we gotta figure out a Plan B."

"Oh I got a Plan B already." Misato shouts at the Ikaris.

"Hmmmm...please feed our heads with your so called 'Plan B', Ms. Katsuragi." Gendo dryly asks Misato.

"Well...I was thinking...that I should train your son and Asuka Soryu to fight the angel...though the art of DANCING!" Misato shouts out in excitement.

"Dancing...ballet?" Gendo questions Misato with a confused look on his face. Yui on the other hand is silently giggling.

"Oh no, Commander Ikari." Misato quickly replies. "Actually, I was thinking of having a Dance Dance Revolution cabinet installed in my apartment just for this."

"A Dance Dance Revolution arcade cabinet in your home, eh?" Gendo replies, pondering the idea for a little bit, only to reply, "Okie dokie. I like it. You can have your DDR cabinet."

"Oh thank you thank you thank you Commander Ikari." Misato cries in joy at Commander Ikari.

"Now...before we all go...I propose one thing." Gendo informs everyone.

"What is it, honey?" Yui asks him.

"I call for something really, really fun." Gendo smirks.

"Fun?" Misato asks him.

"A party." Gendo smoothly replies, with his smirk turning into a flat out grin. He then reaches out to a mic and shouts out, "Attention everyone...PARTY AT MISATO'S TONIGHT!", deeply embarrassing Misato herself.

"Well...yeah...but I just remembered something." Yui replies back with a less enthusiastic look on her face.

"What's that?" Gendo asks, with is face slowing turning into a look of bewilderment.

* * *

"So Mari...ever seen this Devil movie?" Rei asks Mari as they are walking in the streets on Tokyo-3 in the afternoon.

"Devil. That American movie?" Mari replies by asking her.

"Yeah. Saw it last night. It was alright." Rei replies back.

"Ugh. I thought it was utter rubbish." Mari retorts.

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad, even though I would've preferred if it was that younger gal." Rei replies in a much more laid back tone.

"Eh." Mari remarks with an uninterested look on her face.

"Hey you too." a familiar voice calls out at them.

"Hey Kaji. How you're doing?" Rei ask him as she sees that he is standing by his car in the street.

"Not much. Me and Shiro were ordered to pick you two up." Kaji informs her and Mari.

Rei leans her head towards the car and manages to catch a glimpse of Shiro sitting in the passenger seat, about to chug down a flask full of alcohol. However, when he sees Rei eying him, he freaks out a little and hastily puts the flask away.

"So what's going on. We're needed at HQ again?" Rei asks Kaji, curious about the overall situation.

"Oh we're not going to HQ. Actually, we're stopping by Misato's." Kaji immediately replies.

"Misato's?" Mari asks him. "Something special going on?"

"A PARTY!" Shiro shouts out in a somewhat drunk tone.

"Party?" both Rei and Mari blurt out in unison. "Shoot, we gotta get going!"

"Well, come on in you too!" Kaji replies as he smiles.

Both girls get into the car. Once inside, the car drives off and heads its way to the apartment complex Misato's apartment is housed.

* * *

The car pulls up at the apartment complex and all four of them get out and make their way to Misato's apartment.

Kaji knocks on the door. Misato opens it, only to reveal that nothing big is going on, aside from a hulking Dance Dance Revolution arcade cabinet can be glimpsed inside.

"So Misato...where's the party?" Kaji asks her.

"What party?" Misato asks Shinji, a bit confused about what he's talking about.

"Ummmm...the party Commander Ikari mentioned on the loudspeaker." Shiro blurts out, sounding a bit intoxicated.

"Well...ehhh...we're not having a party right now." Misato chuckles in response.

"NO PARTY!" Rei, Mari, Kaji and Shiro all scream in shock and disappointment all at the same time.

"Yup. Sorry to disappoint you four. Besides, Ms. Ayanami and Ms. Makinami, your fellow pilots need to prepare for round 2 with the angel." Misato replies. She then leans towards Kaji's left ear and whispers, "Ms. Ikari reminded me that we got a...birthday party to put together next week, so that's why we can't have a party now."

"Oh. I see." Kaji whispers back. He then looks at Rei, Mari and Shiro to inform them, "Alright. I'm dropping you kids off and Shiro, my friend, i'll drop you off at the local bar. Let's go!"

* * *

After the foursome left, Misato shuts the door and turns her attention towards Shinji and Asuka to tell them, "Okay we got a lot of work ahead of us. Chop Chop!"

"Yeees Misato." Shinji and Askua sigh in unison and walk up to the DDR arcade cabinet. Pen Pen peeks around the corner, squaks and walks back into his own living space.

* * *

For the rest of the week, Shinji and Asuka train and dance as hard as their soul can as Misato constantly blasts a turret of routines and tasks at them, all dancing related.

They get their whole routine and schtick down pat, as well as memorize it for the upcoming rematch, admist the tension between them.

Finally, on Monday of that week...they are ready to take the angel on again...Round 2.

* * *

Asuka is sleeping on what appears to be a very prissy and aristocratic looking bed. At first she's not sure what's going on, but Shinji suddenly walks in.

"Baka Shinji, what the hell are you doing here?" Asuka yells at him.

"Oooooh nothing, my lovely Asuka." Shinji replies in an oddly calm and eccentric tone.

"My Love?" Asuka replies, having a look of complete confusion and absolute disgust on her face. "Why you're acting all stupid, you dummkopf!"

However, the bed, for some reason, leans upward and launches Asuka out of bed and right into the living room.

After she lands on the living room rug, she takes a few seconds to stand back up, only to find herself surrounded by a variety of all the people she knows, except dressed up in 18th century clothing. As for herself, she's completely naked and isn't even wearing her nerve clips as she usually does.

Misato, who's sipping on a cup of tea, turns her head towards Asuka and informs her, "Asuka...we've been waiting for you. Come have a seat."

"No thanks, Misato." Asuka calmy replies. "I...ummm...like to get dressed first."

"No need to do that, my dear Asuka." Kaji tells her in a seductive tone.

Asuka turns around and sees Kaji, who for some reason is dressed up like Rich Uncle Pennybags. However, that doesn't matter since Asuka, totally excited to see Kaji, squeals out, "KAJI!"

"Yes yes it's me, my lovely Asuka. You Asuka, me Kaji. We make babies." Kaji replies while grinning. Initially, his voice sounds very elegant, but it then deteriorates into a somewhat Tarzan-like tone.

Asuka gives off a confused look, but then replies with a slight chuckle, "Hang on, I like to see...ummm...everyone else."

"Fine with me, my Germanic queen." Kaji responds as her kneels down while holding Asuka's right arm and plants a kiss on her hand.

"Oh Kaji...stop embarrassing me. I'll be right back." Asuka chuckles in a slightly embarrassed tone. She then walks away from Kaji and starts to look around the room to see who else is in there, all while her hair sways and her breasts jiggle in sync with the motions of her body.

She manages to see Mari dressed up like a 18th century prostitute, Toji and Kensuke in suits, Ritsuko in a Victorian dress smoking with a cigarette holder reminiscent of what Cruella Deville smokes, Hikari all dressed up, same with Claire and even DesuLoli.

However. The most out of place sight is none other than Rei, who is dressed in her school uniform and has a blank expression on her face.

"Wondergril...why are not dressed up like the rest?" Asuka yells at Rei.

"I'm afraid the Commander needs me. I cannot help you out, Soryu." Rei replies in a eerie monotone as her empty red eyes stare at Asuka.

"What the hell is wrong with you, wondergirl?" Asuka shouts, becoming a bit unnerved by the sudden unsettling atmosphere that has invaded the room. "Hell...why aren't you with baka Shinji?"

"Ikari-kun doesn't need me. I don't need me. You don't need me. Only the Commander needs me." Rei replies back, still in that freaky monotone so uncharacteristic of her.

"What. Oh come on, wondergirl, you are just so..." Asuka shouts, completely disguted by Rei's sudden turn of being zombie-like, but right before she could finish her complaints, a sharp, piercing buzz strikes her ears.

Asuka's face contorts into an expression of pain and annoyance as she clutches her hands over her ears.

Right before her eyes, flashes of graphic images of mangled, bloodied bodies and ripped open heads, which forces her to get down on her knees and keeps the clutches of her hands over her ears tight.

As she clenches her teeth together and keeps her hands over her ears, the buzzing gets louder and more atonal, which forces her to lean her head and shoulders down to the floor. She manages to take a look at the people around her and it dons on her.

No one else can hear the buzzing.

It gets to the point where every other sound that could be hear is inaudible and that the buzzing is all she can hear.

Finally the buzzing becomes overwhelming to the point where Asuka hoists her body up and lets out an agony filled scream of despair and absolute horror.

While screaming, Asuka catches a glimpse of Rei, still looking at her with that cold, distant stare, leaving the room and entering a mysterious darkened room.

Asuka tries to belt out a cry of help at Rei while trying to reach her hand at her, but it does nothing to convince Rei to come and help her, which she ends up walking into the unknown room anyways.

* * *

Asuka keeps screaming in utter horror as no one even bothers to help her out as the flashes of gory, visceral imagery continue to subliminally flash through her eyes, but the others start to eye her and begin to approach her with freaky looks on their faces.

As they loom over Asuka, who's on the floor and writhing in pain, their faces suddenly burst open with grotesque, biomechanical tentacles.

Horrified by the sight, Asuka shrieks and jumps right up, delivering various kicks and punches that knock them out of her way, following that up by running right into the room Rei walked into.

* * *

Asuka finds herself running in the room and running through various hallways with doors on both sides, with her hair flying around and her breasts bouncing in motion, but as she advances through the never ending hallway, she notices that the hallway goes from being very fancy to downright nasty and rust filled. The walls and floor becoming steel and the doors vanishing. Various bloodied, cut up bodies are nailed and hanging on the walls and bloodstains can be seen on both the floor and walls, but right when she gets to the end, she slips on a puddle of blood, landing right onto the floor.

Behind her, a man in a Nazi uniform, knives as fingers and a gory, bloodied mound of steel as a head slowly walks right up to Asuka.

Asuka regains her conscious, catches a glimpse of the man and manages to see that a giant drill is poking right out of his crotch.

"No...no...NO!" Asuka screams out in sheer fear as the man gets right towards her and kneels down, looking to shove the drill right into her and as before he jams it up into her...Asuka lets out an ear piercing scream...only to find herself back in her room inside Misato's apartment.

She lifts her blanket off, discovering that she's wearing her night gown. She also puts her hands onto her head, discovering that she's wearing her nerve clips.

Not at all sure at what just happened, Asuka simply plops back down onto her bed, simply remarking in a voice of aggravation, "Fuck."

"Asuka...you're okay?" Shinji asks her in a concerned tone. "You seemed shaken up."

Both of them are now inside their Evangelions, dressed in their plug suits and ready to take on the angel again. Rei, Mari and Jet Alone Prime are also ready, but in standby in case something happens.

"Oh its nothing, baka Shinji. Nothing." Asuka replies back. "All we need to do is kick this angel's ass and show Misato, the Englander, that robot and wondergirl we can take care of the angels ourselves."

"Okay." Shinji calmly replies and nods.

"Are you two ready?" Misato asks them via her mic.

"Yes." Shinji and Asuka reply in unison.

"Evangelion Units 01 and 02...LAUNCH!" Misato shouts out, ordering the launch of the Evangelions.

Both Unit 01 and Unit 02 are launched right into the city, face to face with the angel...again.

"Alright you two...DANCE!" Misato shouts at the pilots via her mic, which they make their EVAs get into position and start to perform their routine.

"Ummm...this is why they needed that DDR cabinet. A...dance of war?" Rei blurts in bewilderment.

"I guess." Mari replies, sounding equally confused.

"Jet Alone Prime Mania can't wait to run wild on that angel!" Jet shouts out in excitement.

* * *

A piece of classical music starts to play, which prompts Shinji and Asuka to make their EVAs prance towards the angel in a slightly ballet-like manner, smacking the angel off and on.

* * *

The EVAs turn around, pull out their Prog Knives and dance towards the angel, slashing it as they pass by.

They continue to do their dance and damage the angel a bit more up until they jump in the air, get close to each other and deliver a dual corkscrew dropkick on the angel, which results in a relatively big explosion.

* * *

Out of the ashes, Units 01 and 02 stand up, not even having a single scratch on their armor.

"Good job, you two." Misato informs them.

* * *

However...Hyuga then shouts out, "Ummm...something's wrong here."

"What?" Misato shouts at him.

"The angel has not been eradicated. Its still alive!"

"Shit!" Misato blurts out. She then shouts into the mic, "Shinji...Asuka...BEHIND YOU!"

* * *

They both make their EVAs turn around, only to see that the angel has now multiplied into four.

They resume battle positions and attempt to start up their dance routine again, but this only creates a fifth duplicate of the angel, which it and the others overwhelm them to the point it renders their entire plan pointless.

* * *

"Shit. Not good." Misato grumbles. She then shouts out, "Unit 00, Unit 05 and Jet Alone Prime...LAUNCH!", making the remaining EVAs and the mech join Units 01 and 02.

Once they arrive on the surface, all five of them dash right at the angels, taking one on each.

* * *

Jet Alone Prime stands in front of the first duplicate, shouting at him, "What'cha gonna do. What'cha gonna do when Jet Alone Prime mania runs wild on you!"

The duplicated charges right at Jet and starts beating him up with various punches, knee blows and kicks to the point Jet simply falls out and gives up.

The duplicate, figuring it has defeated Jet, walks away. Little does he know that Jet stands back up and starts to hulk up, imitating Hogan's entire Hulk-Up phase.

The angel turns right around and is greeted by Jet pointing a finger at him.

Although the angel tries to attack him, Jet starts wailing on him with right punches to the face, up till he irish whips the angel to the opposite direction of him.

The angel runs back towards Jet, only for him to connect a clothesline that knocks him down.

With the angel down on the floor, Jet runs, jumps over the angel, does that again and finally delivers a devastating leg drop on it.

* * *

Unit 02 and the second angel duplicate duke it out as well, though Asuka instead makes her EVA shoot it.

However, the angel's AT field deflects every bullet fired out of the assault rifle, which greatly irritates Asuka to the point she screams, "Baka angel..DIE!", pulls out a bladed spear and starts attacking the angel, ultimately impaling it with the spear.

* * *

Mari, knowing that her EVA and the angel duplicate are face to face, extracts the blades of her angel out.

Although the angel runs towards her, Mari makes Unit 05 duck and slash it with the blades on its right arm.

The angel, despite being cut open, again runs towards Unit 05, only to get slashed again.

Frustrated, the angel tries to kick the Evangelion, only to get its leg cut off and fall on the ground.

Taking this opportunity by advantage, Mari makes her EVA get on top of the angel and proceeds to tear it apart with the blades in sheer gory fashion.

* * *

Shinji and the angel try to fight it out, but the angel duplicate keeps overwhelming him. However, Jet comes to his side, proclaiming, "I'll help you out, my Jet Alone Prime Maniac!"

Jet pulls out his hammer, places it down, shouts out, "Batter up!" and smacks the angel right into the air, which it lands a mile away from the battle site, which prompts Unit 01 and Jet to run towards the area the angel landed.

* * *

Once there, they see that the angel is on the ground, twitching and writhing in pain.

Jet stands in one corner and Unit 01 stands in another. Shinji makes his EVA shoot the angel in the head while Jet starts slamming his hammer onto it, eradicating it entirely.

* * *

Rei and Unit 00 are standing by the final and perhaps the actual angel itself.

"Okay...gotta keep calm." Rei tells herself as she makes her EVA reach for a Prog Sword to confront it.

Unit 00 remains in position, until Rei belts out a loud scream and runs right at the angel, completely slashing it into pieces in hopes that it'll put an end to it.

However, the chopped up fragments of the angel forms into mini forms of it which runs towards all of the EVAs and Jet.

* * *

Completely amused by this sight, Jetl extends his hammer out and gleefully shouts out, "Its HAMMERTIME!" while starting to smash up all the mini angels into hamburger patties.

* * *

"See...this is what I told you guys. Jet is real useful asset to the EVAs." Shiro proclaims to his fellow coworkers, though they just nod and let out a slight sigh.

* * *

While the EVAs and Jet stand by the mini angel mush, they see the mush form together into a grotesque looking abomination.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Mari screams out in utter disbelief.

"Looks like a gian angel meatball from hell." Rei replies. "Hang on, I can take care of it."

She then runs towards the angel with the Prog Sword in hand and shoves it right into the angel's core, which pierces it, cracks it open and renders the angel motionless.

* * *

"The target has been neutralized. Mission accomplished." Maya informs the pilots.

However, Asuka shouts at Mari, telling her, "Alright englander..we got a fight to settle. Once and for all."

"Okay, Asuka." Mari replies. However, she then adds, "Say...what happened to your poor knowledge of the English language", which causes Asuka's eyes to sink in and her having a "Oh shit." look on her face.

* * *

Later, at the dojo, Mari and Asuka can be seen wearing martial arts Gis as everyone else watch them in the audience.

Mari proceeds to remove her glasses and put on a pair of contact lenses so the cumbersome quality of her glasses.

Asuka cracks her fingers together, proclaiming, "I'm so gonna kick her. I so am."

On the other hand, Mari tells herself, "It's just for fun. Just for fun."

The two girls approach each other, get into a fighting position and get started.

Asuka immediately runs towards Mari, screaming, "I'm gonna wipe that baka smile of yours off."

However, Mari, seeing that Asuka is approaching her, grabs Asuka by the arm and performs a Judo slam on her.

Completely taken aback by Mari's attack, Asuka stands up, runs towards Mari again while screaming and unleashes a flurry of punches and kicks, which Mari completely dodges them and flat out connects with a kick that sends Asuka falling down to the floor.

* * *

Totally surprised that Mari outclassed her, Asuka lays on the ground, totally irritated by her loss. However, Mari walks up to her, sticks her arm out and tells her, "Good fight."

Asuka stares at Mari, but slaps her hand away in retaliation, twisting her face into an angry stare while quietly growling "Dumm britischen Fotze!"

"Oookay." Mari replies with a look of disappointment. She then tells herself, "I am so not looking forward to this."


	31. Chapter 30: Mari's Not So Jolly Day

**Chapter 30: Mari's Not So Jolly Day  
**

* * *

"Come on baby, eat the rich. Put the bite on the son of a bitch. Don't mess up, don't you give me no switch… C'mon baby and eat the rich, C'mon baby and eat the rich…"

Mari Illustrious Makinami, wearing a beanie, a sweatshirt akin to what indie hipsters wear, a loose white T-Shirt, somewhat ripped jeans and a pair of Converses alongside her glasses and headband is walking back to her apartment room while singing the Motörhead tune "Eat the Rich".

* * *

Once she enters her apartment room, she plops onto her bed back first with her arms and legs spread out and flips the TV on.

On the TV, the 80s movie "Dangerous Game" is playing, which she decides to watch.

* * *

However..her cellphones shrieks to life, which not only catches her by surprise but also forces her to turn down the volume of her TV.

"Damn." Mari grunts in annoyance as she turns down the TV volume down and answers the phone.

"Is this my little girl on the line?" the voice of a man with a fairly deep British accent asks.

"...father?" Mari replies, sounding a bit surprised and indifferent.

"Affirmative." her father replies and confirms.

"Why you're deciding to bell me up on my mobile now of all times, father?" Mari grumbles in response.

"Thing is, missy, is that I need to know what you been up to since you left our country to work for Nerv...for greater purposes. Just because I have a stern hand doesn't mean I don't care for you.", her father replies.

* * *

On his end of the line, he is sitting in a dark, murky, shadowy room, completely obscured by the overcast of shadows and the slowly rotating ceiling fan. His big, thick, bushy mustache and age spots moves along as he talks into the phone.

"Oh really?", Mari scoffs back. "As I remember, you haven't given a shit about me since mum died. All you care about is you, your political power and them cunts you call friends in your beloved Conservative Party!"

"Watch your gob, missy." Mari's father snaps back. "You're there for greater purposes than just making friends and protecting the world from them beasts."

"Oh what a load of bollocks, father." Mari shouts out in disgust. "I've made far more friends here than I ever did back home."

"And does that include any new boyfriends?" her father asks in a stern tone.

"Not at the moment father." Mari admits. She then adds, "Well...there's this one boy that I like. Really nice, but a little zany. Plus I think he has a crush on me too, but i'm not one hundred percent sure." as she readjusts her glasses and rubs her nose.

"Well...alright, but as long as he's nothing like that snot nosed punk you last dated." her father grumbles with resentment.

"Oh no no no, father." Mari chuckles, "He's nothing like DJ. Nothing at all."

"You better not be yanking my chain, missy." her father sternly adds.

"No, father. I'm not." Mari giggles in response. "Why would I in the right mind date another creep like him?"

"I dunno, missy." her dad replies. "but remember that you have a purpose down there and if you break any of your promises, personal and misson-wise, i'm gonna have Mr. Kaji ship you and little bum of yours back here."

"Okay father. Yes i'll play along, just..." Mari shrugs, but since she's already irritated with him enough, she flat out hangs up the phone and drops it on the floor rug.

* * *

"Mari?" her father asks as all he hears is the phone tone droning. "Mari pie?" He then puts the phone back on the receiver, facepalms and grumbles, "Dammit Mari. Dammit."

Mari, on the other hand, is slumped on the bed, crying with her glasses off.

* * *

Being in her own self-misery and despair, she did not notice hearing the knocks on the door.

"Mari. Mari. Are you in there. Hello?" Rei asks as she knocks on the door to see if her friend is home.

Rather than crying her ass off any longer, Mari finally takes notice of the knocking, wipes her tears away, puts her glasses on and answers the door.

She's immediately greeted by Rei, who asks, "Yo Mari.", only to examine her face and add, "Say...you look upset. What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, Rei." Mari replies. "So...what brought you here?"

"Well guess what." Rei replies back with a slight grin on her face.

"You arranged me a date with Kensuke?" Mari guesses, albeit with a confused look, not being sure if that's exactly what it is.

"I. GOT. TICKETS!" Rei shouts out in sheer joy while holding the theater tickets in her hand.

"Oh...cool." Mari replies. "So..what movie we're going to see?"

"Saw 11." Rei replies, sounding both very earnest and without a sense of irony.

"Saw 11?" Mari scoffs and kneels down. "What the bloody hell do you think I am?"

"Oh come on." Rei replies back, "We haven't gone to the movies yet, it'll be fun."

"Yeah I know." Mari responds, still looking more annoyed than amused "but Saw 11. Why?"

"I dunno. They're stupid, but Judgement is always a hoot." Rei replies, obviously not caring about the overall quality of the films.

"You mean Amanda Young?" Mari scoffs out in a dead serious tone. "That cunt should've stayed dead."

"Oh come on." Rei groans out in disapproval. "Remember. Taft survived getting his neck slit, so Amanda definitely could've survived a bullet in the throat too...and that's what happened."

"What a load of bollocks." Mari scoffs. "Okay, okay. I'll go just to get it out of the way."

"Alright then." Rei nods and steps outside.

* * *

Mari then follows along by getting her things together and steps outside as well.

* * *

A while later, they both arrive at the movie theater and walk inside.

"Say. Would you like me to buy something to eat?" Rei asks Mari.

"Nah. I don't either of us have the extra yen." Mari replies. "Besides, we can go to HQ and grab some nosh after the movie."

"Nosh?" Rei asks her friend, sounding puzzled. "What the hell is nosh?"

"Aw crap, there goes my slang." Mari groans in embarrassment as she facepalms. "I meant food."

"Ah okay." Rei nods in response.

* * *

Both girls walk through the bright, gaudy theater and head towards the entrance of their designated screening room. However, they are stopped by a fairly large man who sneers at them and chuckles, "Sorry girls. You're not old enough to see this garbage."

Rei nudges Mari and whispers, "Take out your Nerv ID card out."

"Oh..okay." Mari nods back and reaches into her purse to pull her Nerv ID card.

Rei shows off her ID card, boasting, "Well, you see big guy...me and my pal Mari here are Evangelion pilots. We're the ones protecting your asses so we're more than anything allowed to see this otherwise crappy piece of American shlock."

"Well ain't that cute." the stocky usher snarks out in a ficticiously cutesy tone, "But its..."

"Oh there you are." another usher steps in, who recognizes Rei and Mari. "Go right in and enjoy the movie."

"Thank you." the girls reply in unison and walk into the screening room.

* * *

"But...but...what about the guidelines?" the stocky usher questions his fellow worker.

"Well, you wouldn't want your fat ass fired for disobeying Nerv, right?" the skinny usher chuckles back.

"Oh." the stocky usher replies with a loss for words. "Fuck!"

* * *

Inside the screening room, Rei and Mari watch the eleventh entry of the fairly stale, long running American horror franchise.

"You know, Rei...why the bloody hell does Amanda keep that geezer Jigsaw's cadaver?" Mari asks her friend, sounding both annoyed and rather bored over having to sit through this film.

"Honestly, I know and I don't care." Rei shrugs back.

Mari sighs and rather than resuming focus on the film, takes a look around her to see who else is watching the movie.

* * *

In one spot, she catches a glimpse of what appears to be a sickly overweight guy drooling and having vomit and mucus secrete out of his mouth and nose (respectively), which drips into his popcorn. He doesn't pay much attention and keeps on eating the popcorn, even with it covered in his own bodily fluids.

This greatly grosses Mari out, causing her to look away from him and to focus on other people.

* * *

This time, she catches of what appears to be a couple screwing each other, since all she can see is the backside of a gal bouncing up and down on her boyfriend, with any trace of genitalia and penetration being obscured by the girl's sweatshirt.

"Take a look at them wankers over there." Mari whispers. "They're screwing in a bloody pickie."

"Shhhh...I wanna see if this dude can make it out of this blender trap Judgement set up." Rei whispers back.

"Well...fine. Be that way." Mari scoffs.

* * *

Once again, she turns around to see who else is in the theater. However, a skinny middle aged caucasian man with balding hair and a porn mustache looks right at her.

Being a bit disturbed, Mari tried to see what other folks are there, but the greasy old man keeps staring at her, winking, slicking his hair back and even licking his lips.

* * *

Mari backs off, quickly turns around and whispers, "Rei...there's this geezer that's giving me funny looks."

"Oh really. Lemme see him." Rei whispers back.

She turns around and sees said old man, who sees her and quietly mutters, "Oh now you're a real exotic piece of teen pussy."

Rei focuses her attention back to the movie, slumps into her seat and tells her friend, "Ummm, Mari. On second thought, let's get out of here."

"I thought you wanted to see this rubbish?" Mari scoffs back.

"That guy you mentioned...he's scaring me." Rei whimpers in response.

"Yeah...a real wanker." Mari replies. "Let's get out of here."

Both girls stand up and exit the theater, which the overweight usher chuckles, "Heh...I knew them girls would walk out of that American garbage."

* * *

As Rei and Mari are walking through the city, some crazy guy runs up to them.

"Hey. You two better stop eating sandwiches." the dude informs them in a frantic tone.

"Ummmm...why?" Rei asks him, being a bit confused about what he said.

"They're wiping their greasy cocks on them to give us syphilis!" he frantically mumbles back.

"Okay, what kind of rubbish are you smoking?" Mari snaps out at him.

"I'm not kidding, missy. They're trying to infect us all!." the man rambles on.

* * *

Right at that moment, Rei's cellphone rings, which makes her answer it.

"Hello?" Rei speaks into it.

"This is Katsuragi. You and Mari please report to HQ. We got a real big problem on our hands here." Misato replies.

"Okay, we'll be there." Rei replies back and hangs up the phone.

* * *

A Taxi cab drives by them, which she shouts out, "Hey Taxi, Taxi!"

The Taxi car immediately stops, which Rei grabs Mari by her hand and drags her towards the Taxi.

"We got an angel fight to deal with?" Mari asks her.

"Correcto." Rei replies and nods.

"Well...the sooner we can get away from this wanker, the better." Mari replies back.

* * *

At HQ, Misato informs, "Okay, there's an angel deep inside Mount Fuji and we need to eliminate that sucker immediately."

"So who's going to take care of it?" Rei asks her.

"Well...since they got such great chemisty, Asuka and Mari will take care of it...together." Misato gleefully shouts back.

"WHAT?" Mari and Asuka shout out in unison and pure bewilderment.

Yeah, now follow Dr. Akagi. She'll take you to your 'special equipment' for this mission." Misato grins as she replies back."


	32. Chapter 31: Into the Grill

**Chapter 31: Into the Grill

* * *

**

"Asuka Soryu...Mari Makinami." Ritsuko informs them as they all stand in a locker room. "We'll be outfitting you and your EVAs with 'special' equipment for this mission."

"Doctor Akagi...what kind of equipment?" Asuka asks.

"Since you'll be levered into Mount Asama..."Ritsuko informs the girls.

However, Asuka rudely cuts her off by yelling, "MOUNT ASAMA. You're gonna be dropping us off in a volcano!"

"Yes, Ms. Soryu." Ritsuko grumbles back. "We'll be dropping you two into a volcano.". She then rolls her eyes, readjusts her glasses and adds, "Actually, we'll be levering you two into Mount Asama to find an angel egg that's been reported to us."

"So you're telling us that we and our EVAs are going into a friggin' volcano to retrieve an angel egg?" Asuka whines, then whisper, "Was für ein Quatsch!"

"Oh come on, Asuka. Don't feel so down in the dumps." Mari replies while patting her on the back. "I'm sure we'll get all tooled-up for this mission.".

"I told you two that already." Ritsuko snaps back. She then eases down a little and adds, "Like I was saying, we're going to be levering you and your EVAs into Mount Asama to retrieve the angel egg and since the regular equipment will not be able to withstand the heat, we've prepared you and your EVAs said special equipmentjust for this mission alone."

"So where's our equipment, guv'nor?" Mari asks her.

"Oh...right this way, you two." Ritsuko replies, pointing her arm towards another part of the locker room.

Mari and Asuka proceed to walk to the designated area Ritsuko directed them to.

* * *

Once there, they find two large metal canisters.

One for Asuka.

The other for Mari.

"So guv'nor...do we open them here or try to them with us and open them separately?" Mari asks Ritsuko.

"Just open them here. It's the contents of the box I want you two to put on in separate dressing rooms." Ritsuko replies.

"Okay Dr. Akagi." Mari nods back.

"Good, now move back, Engländer. This is mine!" Asuka shouts, shoving Mari out of the way to get to her designated metal canister to open it up.

Asuka's smile suddenly shifts into one of bewilderment after pulling out the contents of her metal canister.

"Ummmm...Dr. Akagi...why is my plugsuit in this metal box?" a confused Asuka asks her.

"Well...go try it on. I'll show you what's different about it." Ritsuko calmly replies back.

Not being a good sport when expressing her disappointment, Asuka shrugs it off and stomps her way into a dressing room with her so-called "special equipment", leaving Mari and Rits alone.

* * *

Mari then looks at Ritsuko and asks her "So I can just open my own box here now?"

"Yeah yeah Mari." Ritsuko replies back. "Go ahead."

She then walks up to her assigned box and opens it up.

Rather than replying, her mouth twists into an amused grin.

* * *

"Verdammt, Dr. Akagi. Welche Art von schlechter Witz ist das?" Asuka quietly grumbles as she makes her way back to the locker room. "Sie besser eine gute Erklärung, warum meine Plug Anzug ist in diesem blöden Kasten, nicht einige spezielle coole neue Stecker passen, dass ich erwartet hatte..."

However, the minute she steps back into the locker room, her eyes widen in utter disgust and she quietly grumbles in sheer shock, "Der Teufel?"

What she sees is Mari in a plug suit she has never seen before.

One that is bathed in shiny, ultra reflective chrome, all topped off by a helmet with a pitch black visor.

"Asuka, you're back?" Mari asks.

"What are you, Engländer." Asuka snaps back. "Stupid?"

"Ummm...Asuka." Ritsuko whispers to her. "Due to the design mechanism of Mari's helmet specifically made for this mission, she cannot see through the visor, thus rendering her blind while wearing it."

"...Oh Scheiße." Asuka whispers back, sounding embarrassed, which she then turns her head back at Mari and apologizes. "Sorry about that."

"Oh it's no biggie." Mari replies. "I just wish I could see a damn thing in this bloody helmet."

"It sure looks cool, though." Asuka whispers to herself.

However, she remembers her main complaint and asks Ritsuko, "Now have a very good question to ask you."

"What is it?" Ritsuko replies back.

"Why was my plug suit inside that metal box?" Asuka complains. "If I was supposed to get special equipment for this mission like the Engländer, then why was I just given my regular plug suit?"

"Well Asuka...you see, this is not your regular plug suit." Ritsuko calmly replies back, obviously holding back her urge to slap the child.

"...what?" Asuka stammers back in a confused tone.

"Even though this plug suit looks exactly like your regular one, it's not." Ritsuko replies back. "Just press the button on your left wrist and you'll see what i'm talking about."

* * *

At first, Asuka rolls her eyes in disbelief but eventually nods and presses the button.

To Asuka's horror, her suit starts to inflate as if she's abruptly gained weight in a short amount of time.

"Was in der Welt ist mit mir?". Asuka screams out.

"Oh don't worry Ms. Soryu." Ritsuko calmly replies. "This plugsuit you're wearing is custom fitted with a pressurized thermal inner layer. This is so when you're inside your EVA in the belly of the volcano, you won't...well...explode."

"WHAT!" Asuka yells out. "Why do I have to wear this hideous fat suit and the Engländer doesn't?"

"Well...Mari's plugsuit is far more experimental than yours." Ritsuko explains to Asuka. "Your EVA is being outfitted with D-Type Equipment so you can extract the angel embryo.". She then looks at Mari and informs her, "As for you, your EVA is getting outfitted with armor not unlike your plugsuit. Your purpose will be to confront the angel in case it hatches from it's embryo."

Asuka gives Ritsuko and Mari the evil eye and yells, "Why are you making a fool out of me?"

Ritsuko plants her right hand on Asuka's left shoulder and tells her, "Now now, Ms. Soryu. Your role in this operation is just as important as Mari's. Even more so, actually."

Asuka shifts her eyes around, shrugs and calmly replies, "Well..if you say so, then okay. Just show me what my EVA will look like during this mission."

"Well, I was going to escort you and Ms. Makinami to the EVA cage a few minutes from now, but since you've asked me, i'll just escort you two there now." Ritsuko informs Asuka.

However, before she escorts them, she asks Asuka, "Can you assist me in escorting Mari to the EVA cage. She can't see anything while wearing that helmet."

"Okay, Dr. Akagi." Asuka replies, but then shrugs to herself, "Yeah yeah yeah, help the damn Engländer out while I look like a fool. I hope Kaji doesn't see me like this."

Ritsuko and Asuka then stand by Mari and put their arms on her, which prompts her to ask, "Hey, what's going on?"

"We're going to the EVA cage, Ms. Makinami. Me and Ms. Soryu will assist you there." Ritsuko replies, then looks at Asuka and nods at her.

She nods back and they both help her walk to the EVA cage.

* * *

Once there, Ritsuko looks at Asuka and tells her, "Stay here to see the D-Type equipment while I help Mari get situated in her EVA plug.

"Ordnung, Ritsuko." Asuka nods back with a slight grin.

Ritsuko smiles back, although she then helps escort Mari and shakes her head in confusion from a distance.

* * *

Askua looks around, smiling and telling herself, "Okay, now where's my lovely EVA.", until her eyes widen in disgust as she spots a giant figure wearing what appears to be old timey diving equipment.

"Oh no...this better not be true." she stammers in disgust.

"What's not true, Asuka?" a familiar voice replies back which sends unwarranted shivers down her spine.

"...KAJI!" Asuka stammers back, which she happens to sweatdrop. "Oh please, I can't be around him like this."

"What's wrong?" Kaji walks up and asks her.

Initially, Asuka keeps her back turned from Kaji, but she quickly turns around, clutches her hands on his jacket and cries, "LOOK AT WHAT I HAVE TO WEAR!"

"Why's that a problem?" he asks her. "You still look fine, Asuka. It's just a suit, right?"

She rolls her eyes, clamps her arms together, grunts and replies, "Well, it makes me look fat...and my EVA isn't getting off any better with that hideous equipment."

"Oh Asuka, it's just a plug suit." Kaji replies back. "You're only gonna wear it once, so don't worry about it."

As much as Asuka wants to please him, she continues to act defiant and yells, "I DON'T CARE, I JUST DON'T WANT TO LOOK STUPID!"

"No no no, Asuka." Kaji calmly replies. "No one will see you in this plug suit in battle. Besides, you'll be in your EVA throughout the whole time."

Annoyed, Asuka sharply points a finger at her Evangelion and yells, "Look at my EVA, Kaji. It looks horrendous!"

Kaji, resisting the urge to facepalm, replies, "Look, Asuka. This is a one mission thing. Not only you will not wear this plug suit and your EVA will have this equipment ever again, the same goes for Mari, okay?"

Growing increasingly irate but also seeing what he's talking about, Asuka replies to Kaji by saying, "Okay, okay Kaji. I'll do this for you...but only once. Got that?"

"That's good." Kaji replies back. "Just try to cooperate with Ms. Makinami."

"Yes Kaji, 'i'll work with the Engländer." Asuka replies back.

"Asuka Langley Soryu, report to your entry plug. We're preparing to transport the EVAs to Mount Asama. I repeat, preparing to transport to Mount Asama." a voice on the loudspeaker announces.

"That's your cue, missy." Kaji tells Asuka. "Go show us that you and Ms. Makinami can work together."

Asuka nods back, replies, "Yeah yeah, Kaji. I gotta go." and runs to her entry plug.

* * *

Asuka finally shows up at her entry plug and slowly makes her way into it to compensate for the girth of her plug suit.

"Ugh, I feel so dirty wearing this." Asuka grumbles to herself as she wiggles her way to the cockpit of the entry plug.

* * *

Once situated, Asuka quietly sits in her cockpit, still holding a bit of a grudge for having to wear this plugsuit.

She feels her EVA being airlifted and before she could resume being relaxed, she hears Mari's voice.

"Asuka...mind if we chat for a little?" she asks her.

"Yeah yeah yeah, Engländer. What do you want?" Asuka snaps back.

"Well, on that topic...why do you call me...ahem...Englander?" Mari replies. "That's kinda insulting."

"Look, Mari...it's supposed to be insulting. I think your stummen weißen britischen Arsch has no purpose working with me except to annoy the Wohn Scheiße von meinen verdammten Kopf!" Asuka yells back, obviously breaking back into her native language as her frustration grows.

"Asuka...you're letting some German into your bloody gob again." she informs her. "Oh and you're so breaking your promise right now."

"Ach Scheiße!" Asuka grumbles to herself, then replies to her fellow pilot, "...sorry...Mari."

"Eh, no big." Mari nods back, then asks, "Say...is it fine if I tell ya about the dream I had last night?"

"Go ahead." Asuka replies.

"Well, I was in this weird room of sorts, all latched up against this rack with my knockers exposed. Kaji was there too, as I can recalled and these scientists were pumping my bloody cunt up with LCL..for some reason." Mari replies back, describing her dream to Asuka.

"Ooooookay, Mari. Is that it?" Asuka stammers back with eyes wide open.

"Well, no. I forgot to mention that I was acting very weird too and after they were done filling me up like a balloon with LCL, they let me down to the cold floor. Then, out of nowhere...these weird EVA-like creatures showed up and pretty much...well...violated my flesh with their...how do I describe this...um...artificial boabies. It went on for a long bloody time and it was real bollocks, but I guess dream me enjoyed it. It was all for this...ahem...beast mode, whatever the bloody hell that is." Mari continues, making Asuka's bewildered look grow increasingly more disturbed.

"Mari...I do not want to know what kind of an imagination you have to produce such...dreams." Asuka snaps back, obviously looking disgusted.

"...yeah I know. 'twas a weird, weird dream." Mari responds, nodding, then asks "Mind if you tell me a dream you hand too?"

Asuka rolls her eyes, but then replies, "Well...okay...it started out where I was..."

* * *

However, Maya's voice shouts out, "Ms. Soryu, Ms. Makinami...prepare to descend."

The girls nod, which Mari's headset suddenly starting, showing a full first person perspective right in her eyes.

She attempts to lift one of her arms, but instead sees the right hand of her EVA.

"Woah...this is smashing." She mutters in awe.

"Be careful, Mari." Misato informs. "Your main objective is to watch over Asuka and sees if she can retrieve the egg without trouble. If she needs assistance lifting the air, act immediately."

"Gotcha, guv'nor." she replies back.

"Asuka...as for you...your objective is to retrieve the angel egg. As said before, you and your EVA's equipment, like Mari's, are specifically designed to sustain in the belly of the volcano. Unlike Mari's equipment, the equipment is limited in movement and is purposely designed to retrieve the egg. If the egg hatches, you will be unable to combat it, thus why we sent Mari and Unit 05 down with you." Misato informs her.

"Ok, Misato." Asuka replies.

"Good." Misato responds back, sounding pleased. She then informs both girls, "Now good luck you two...we're counting on you.", which they nod back and Misato's feed cuts out.

Unit 05 then gets on Unit 02 as the lever descends into the volcano.

* * *

"So Asuka...one of your parents is German, right?" Mari asks her as they continue to descend deeper into the volcano. "Which one?"

"Mein Papa." Asuka immediately replies. "and meine mama...meine mama...is Japanese."

"How funny...same with me." Mari chuckles back, though her tone becomes more sullen and adds "though...I rather not talk about my mother and father."

"Same." Asuka replies back. However, something dons and her and she asks, "Say...I just realized something."

"Yeah what is it?" Mari replies.

"You're British-Japanese, i'm German-Japanese...and Shinji is plain ol' Japanese...what is Rei?" Asuka asks her.

"Well aside from being my best friend, she has to be Japanese...yet...she doesn't look like she's got even a tiny sliver of Japanese in her." Mari replies.

"Exactly...while we have quite a bit of the ol' Anglo Saxon in our genetics, Rei...has way too much of it and buchse scheiße in her at all...as far as i'm concerned." Asuka shouts back.

"But she said her father was working in a nuclear power plant before she and her mother conceived her." Mari snaps back in response.

"Oh no no no no, Mari. There's keine verdammte weg that made her have no Japanese in her genetic makeup." Asuka shouts at Mari. "Yes, I can buy that giving her pale as hölle skin, red eyes and blue hair, but not her looking full on Caucasian. Genetics do not work like that!"

"Asuka...how in the bloody hell do you know about shite like that?" Mari questions her.

"...I just know." Asuka grumbles back.

* * *

However, before she could keep the argument raging on, her eyes widen as she spots a tell tale object into the ground.

"The egg!" she shouts at Mari. "I found the egg!"

"Oh good...get it so we can get back to HQ." Mari replies back.

"Right on." Asuka responds. "I so want to get out of this gott damn monkey suit!"

Unit 02 carefully grabs hold of the egg, yet before Asuka's eyes, the egg begins to hatch and a horrific screech flies through the girls' ears.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Mari asks Asuka.

"I dunno, Mari...but...we're in big, big trouble." Asuka stammers in shock as the egg slowly cracks open in front of her eyes.


	33. Chapter 32: Burning for You

**Chapter 32: Burnin' for You**

* * *

"Mari, don't just stand there...DO SOMETHING!" Asuka yells at her as the angel breaks its way out of the egg.

"Hang on a bloody second." Mari replies, sounding a bit agitated, which she makes her EVA protract its blades and proceeds to get into a fighting stance, ready to attack the angel.

"Why you're just standing there, Mari." Asuka yells at her. "Kill it!"

"Asuka, if you be patient, i'll be able to slay it." Mari explains. "I don't want to risk me and my EVA's arses getting cooked in the bloody lava, so i'll just wait till it comes towards me, okay?"

Asuka rolls her eyes in annoyance and grumbles to herself, "If I was in the EVA with mobilityy right now, I would so tear der angel's arsch apart!"

As Unit 05 stands on Unit 02 with its blades extracted, the angel breaks out of his egg and launches itself towards Unit 05, tackling it in the process.

"Oh shit!" Misato yells out as she hears Mari grunting as the angel tackles her. "Quick, attack it!"

* * *

Maya watches the slowly growing car wreck of a mission with a mesmerized gaze, seemingly too drawn into the kinetics of the angel and the EVAs to even bark out status updates of the EVAs' conditions.

"Lieutenant...LIEUTENANT!" Yui yells at her.

Maya breaks out of her trance and hastingly replies, "Ummm...EVA Unit 05 has received no damage so far."

"...good." Yui replies back.

* * *

She then focuses on Mari and asks, "You're okay, Ms. Makinami?"

"Affirmative, guv'nor." Mari replies. "However...I don't know where the angel went."

"Shit!" Gendo yells out. "Ms. Makinami, keep your eyes peeled and protect Unit 02 at all costs!"

"Okay okay, Commander." Mari replies back.

* * *

Unit 05 looks around the hellish landscape to see if the angel makes itself known again, blades ready to make a killing.

* * *

The adults continue to monitor Mari and Asuka's activities in the mission, looking to see if there's any cue of the angel near by the EVAs.

* * *

However, Maya's eyes widen and yells, "Mari, the angel is behind you!"

"What?" Mari squeaks back, unaware that the angel has its eyes set on a gear box on Unit 05's back.

The angel begins to hiss and drool an acidic liquid that melts parts of the surface it's standing on, fixated on the box.

"Ms. Makinami, Lieutenant Ibuki is telling you that the angel is behind you." Commander Ikari yells back. "ATTACK!"

* * *

Unit 05 quickly turns around and attempts to strike but gets a face full of acid in the face.

"AUUGHHHAGGHHH!" Mari screams in pain as she feels a burning sensation tingling in her face as part of her EVA's helmet melts away.

"Mari...Mari...are you okay?" Asuka cries out, worried if her estranged fellow EVA pilot is hurt.

* * *

The angel then knocks down Unit 05 face first and destroys the box with one clean swipe.

Mari, feeling the sensation going away, suddenly sees the vision in her helmet cut to black.

"...what...WHAT?" Mari screams out. "What the bloody fuck just happened!"

"Ms. Makinami...what happened?" Misato asks her.

"...I CAN'T SEE A BLOODY DAMN THING!" Mari screams out in sheer anger. "THIS IS TOTAL FUCKING BOLLOCKS!"

* * *

"Oh shit...this is bad." Misato quietly tells herself. She then walks over to Gendo and asks him, "What do we do now?"

Gendo turns his head towards Misato and replies, "Hmmm...". He thinks for a second, then adds, "...first off, we need to get Ms. Makinami and Ms. Soryu out of there, then...we need to airlift our best pilot and EVA over there."

"...okay Commander." Misato replies back

* * *

Shiro then walks into Central Dogma and asks, "Say, what's going on with the pilots?"

Misato turns her head towards him and informs, "Shiro...I need you to do me a favor."

* * *

"Mari...Mari...please tell me that your English ass is okay." Asuka yells out, desperately trying to get her to respond.

Suddenly, she feels a hard force push against her EVA and a voice weakly reply, "Yes Asuka, i'm okay."

"Oh good." Asuka replies, releasing a sigh of relief. "So what were you screaming about?"

"The angel...has made me incapable of seeing in my EVA!" Mari screams back, being utterly irritated.

"Oh crap." Asuka mutters back as her eyes widen open. "How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

"Asuka, Mari...I want you two to get back to the surface." Misato informs them. "We're sending in help to finish the job and we're going to get you two out of there."

"Affirmative." the girls reply back at the same time.

* * *

Asuka then bluntly asks Mari, "Mari can you please help us out of here...and do it quickly."

"Alright, Asuka...just be patient, i'm so at a major disadvantage right now." Mari grumbles back.

Trying her best to navigate with a total lack of vision, Mari makes Unit 05 retract its blades, carefully walk through the platform holding her and Asuka's EVAs together, grabs Unit 02 with its right hand and starts to climb up the pole.

"Please be careful...this is not what I meant by trying to get us out of here." Asuka complains, fearing that Unit 05 will lose its grip and drop her into the burning lava.

"I know, I know." Mari replies back. "Its not what I planned, but I have no other choice but to get our arses out of here and this is the only way I can think of with my disadvantages put in consideration."

"Ugh." Asuka groans. "Ok, but if you get us killed, i'm going to kick your ass from hell all the way to Deutschland."

Mari doesn't reply, but instead continues to drag Asuka along with her as she ascends the pole to the surface.

* * *

"Finally...now that I have Reconstruction of Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two on DVD, I can watch it and go on LagannFreaks to comment on what I think of it." Rei tells herself as she prepares to watch said DVD.

However, a knock on her door at first startles her, but then annoys her.

"Oh now what." she groans as she stands up and walks to her apartment room door to open it.

After doing so, her eyes widen and she asks, "Mr. Tokita...what's going on?"

* * *

"Can't you move any faster?" Asuka yells at Mari as they get closer to the surface.

"Come on, i'm trying my very best despite being unable to see a bloody damn thing!" Mari yells back. "Besides, I can hear the angel. It's close."

"What?" Asuka yells. "The angel is close by?"

"Yes, but i'm in no condition to fight back." Mari sighs back. "That's why we need to keep moving forth."

Asuka rolls her eyes, then clamps her arms together in annoyance, just letting Mari drag her up.

* * *

Unit 05 keep ascending with Unit 02 in hand, increasingly closer to the surface up until Mari pauses as she hears the hissing of the angel nearby.

"Why did you stop again?" Asuka yells at Mari.

"It's the bloody angel!" Mari yells back. "Do you want us to get killed?"

"Of course not, Mari, but can you fight back?" Asuka asks her.

"I'm virtually blind right now!" Mari yells back. "Help is on the way so we should just keep our bloody arses moving!"

"Okay okay, Mari." Asuka pouts.

* * *

Unit 05, trying to keep its best grasp on Unit 02, continues to climb up. However, the angel swims right towards them with it's jaws wide open, ready to strike.

However, Mari makes Five lean away from the angel, making it run into a wall and resumes quickly climbing up towards the surface, nearly out of the lava.

* * *

Finally, the hand of Unit 05 ascends out of the burning hot lava, signaling that they're finally near the surface.

Mari makes Unit 05 climb out of the lava, hoists Unit 02 up and throws it onto the surface.

* * *

Unit 02 lands on the gravel and rolls around as Asuka yells out, "Oooooh Mari, you crazy Brit!"

* * *

Mari, exhausted from having to make Unit 05 carry Unit 02 around, makes her EVA climb some more to jump towards the surface, but right when she readies herself to do so, the angel ascends from the demonic lava like an abomination bursting free from it's hellish prison, aiming to take Unit 05 out.

"Oh shite!" Mari yells out in shock as she hears the angel's nightmarish scream.

* * *

In a split second, Mari makes Unit 05 sway around the crane and jump onto the gravel, avoiding the angel charging at it.

"Misato, we're on the surface." Asuka yells. "Where is our assistance?"

"Just about here, Asuka." Misato replies back.

* * *

Unit 02 stands and looks up in the sky, only to spot an aircraft hovering over the volcano. A large crane descends out of it for the EVAs to get on it.

"Mari, Asuka!" Misato yells at them. "Get on the crane!"

The two girls nod, make their EVAs run towards the crane and jump up on it.

* * *

Once their situated on it, the crane ascends, moving back into the aircraft.

"So I guess that's it for us." Asuka mutters at Mari. "So I wonder how they're going to take out the angel?"

"Shouldn't you know this?" Mari asks her in a sarcastic tone. "You very well know who they're sending in to finish our job."

* * *

As the angel tramples around the surface, two shutters open up.

A large blue figure jumps out of the aircraft and descends down to the ground, landing on the gravel.

Unit 00 has arrived on the scene.

Ready to take out the angel.

* * *

"Rei, before you fight the angel, look up." Misato tells her.

Unit 00 leans up and sees an object falling down.

"Catch!" Misato yells at her, prompting Rei to make Unit 00 jump up and grab the object.

To her surprise, it's a sword scaled to the size an EVA could wield.

"A sword?" Rei asks. "When did I deserve this?"

"Rei, that's no ordinary sword." Yui tells her. "That's a Prog Sword. Far more powerful than a Prog Knife and a regular sword. It's yours to keep."

"Alright." Rei calmly replies back.

* * *

She then makes her EVA get into a fighting stance with prog sword in hand, ready to take on the angel.

"Ok...where are you?" Rei yells out, trying to see if she can get the angel's attention.

But before she could react, the angel flies right up to her EVA and knocks it down.

* * *

Unit 00 gets back up, turns around and swings the Prog Sword at the angel. Hoping to cut into the flesh, the blade of the sword instead smacks off the skin as if it hit a steel wall.

"What the hell?" Rei exclaims in confusion.

"...that's not right." Misato yells out. "Why is the blade not penetrating?"

"I dunno why either." Rei replies.

* * *

However, as they talk, the angel's skin started to hiss and crack as it's super heated hide started to rapidly cool down. The once hard, durable skin has now been reduced to being crusty and weakened, which it started to slither off the angel down to the ground in a grotesque manner.

After shedding said skin, freakish new appendages burst right out of it's newly christened, less durable skin, revealing a new form to adapt to the surroundings outside of the volcano.

* * *

Unit 00 turns around, which Rei sees the angel's new form.

"Aw man, not this again." she grumbles in annoyance as she sees the angel. "Alright...at least I got this sword and...ummm...this greatly improved armor..so I guess i'll do better now than my...first fight."

* * *

Unit 00 readies itself back into a combat position and waits for the angel to pounce.

* * *

Once it does, Unit 00 takes a huge swipe at it and in a flash, blood splatters on it and the angel falls down dead, cut into two.

"...wow. That was...anticlimactic." Rei mumbles back in disappointment as she makes her EVA put the prog sword away and walks back towards the aircraft.

* * *

From a distant, a large figure hidden in a tattered red cloak watches Unit 00 walk away.

"Misaki...that there is Unit 00. Without it taking a great amount of damage in it's fight with the Third Angel, you would not be here today." the voice of an aging man tells the pilot of this figure.

"Yes, Master Lorenz." Misaki tells her superior. "So is this is the girl i'm going after?"

"No." Keel replies back. "Your target is the Second Child Asuka Langley Soryu. You'll meet her once you attend Room 2-A two days from now."

"Ok, sir." Misaki replies back.

* * *

The feed inside a dark room cuts out.

Keel Lorenz grabs his cane and walks out of the room.

* * *

He then arrives in another room covered in the sounds of a respirator and heart monitor and walks towards a figure laying on a bed.

"...Master Lorenz...what brings you here?" the person replies, albeit with a nasty wheeze underneath his voice. "Is it time for me to reunite with the perfect one?"

"Kaworu...not yet." Keel replies back. "You're not ready."


	34. Chapter 33: The Birthday of Rei Ayanami

**Chapter 33: The Birthday of Rei Ayanami**

* * *

"Rei, i'm rather surprised that you received that." Mari tells her as they walk through the streets.

"Surprised about me getting a prog sword?" Rei asks her back.

"Well yeah...then again my EVA has built in blades so i'm already covered in the blade department." Mari chuckles.

"Heh." Rei nods back. "Well i'm quite surprised to see you and Asuka working together. I wonder what she's up to right now?"

* * *

"Oh Verdammte Scheiße!" Asuka yells out in disgust inside a shower as she rubs a wet, soap drenched washrag all over her body and has water spray on her. "That damn suit made me all sweaty and smelly!".

* * *

Outside, Shinji stands in front of the door and shouts, "Asuka can you hurry up. I really need to pee."

"Go piss outside, baka!" Asuka viciously snaps back.

Shinji shakes his head in disappointment and walks away while Asuka continues to frantically scrub the washrag all over her body.

* * *

"Well...whatever she's up to, it must be...interesting." Mari replies.

"I can imagine." Rei nods.

* * *

Both girls then arrive at Rei's apartment room, which Mari tells her, "Well I guess i'll see you later then."

"Yeah...I got to watch this friggin' movie since I didn't get to earlier." Rei replies, then adds as she and Mari hug, "You take care now."

"Same to you." Mari replies back.

* * *

The girls then move away from each other, with Rei going into her apartment and Mari walking back home.

* * *

Inside, Rei takes her shoes off, picks up her DVD of "Reconstruction of Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two" and sits on her couch.

She examines it, tempting to do another attempt at watching it.

* * *

However, her cellphone hollers, breaking her concentration in favor of answering it.

"Hello?" she ask the person on the other end.

"Rei my darling daughter. How you're doing?" her mother asks her while standing in a crowded street.

"Hey mom." Rei replies back, then adds. "Not that much."

"Oh that's nice dear." her mother replies. "Since me and your father are going to be very busy tomorrow, I decided to wish you a happy birthday tonight instead."

"Ummmm...thank you mom." Rei replies back, sounding a little confused.

"So..14 it is." Rei's mother tells her while starting to tear up a little. "I wish you were with us right now. It breaks my heart that your growing up sooo fast."

"It's alright, mom." Rei replies back with a slight chuckle. "Once my job is done here i'll be back home."

"Ok, my darling daughter." her mother responds.

* * *

However, she hears her husband screaming, "Goddamit I wanted spicy miso shabu shabu, not hot and sour tofu soup!"

"Ummm...why is dad having a conniption over soup?" Rei asks her mother.

"Well poo. I'll call you back when I can...so Happy Birthday!" her mother tells her, then hangs up.

Rei stares at her cellphone and mutters, "Well gee mom..thanks for that.".

* * *

She then hangs up, puts her phone away and picks up the DVD again.

Examining it again, she tempts to watch it, but then turns her head towards her door and mutters, "You know...lemme see what I got in the mail."

She puts the DVD away, puts her shoes back on and exits her apartment.

* * *

Outside, Rei walks to the mailbox and checks to see if she received anything.

Inside it, she finds a parcel with a sticker that says "Don't open till your birthday!" which she replies, "Oh mom and dad."

She locks her mailbox and goes back into her apartment.

* * *

Rei sets the parcel aside and looks at the DVD again, only to take a glance at her clock and mutter, "Oh wow...looks like I need to call it a night.", which she changes into her pajamas and goes to bed.

* * *

_**The Next Day...**_

* * *

Rei lays in her bed, sleeping.

However, her beauty sleep is interrupted by her cell phone ringing, which she leans up and groans, "Aw man. Who's calling me at this time of the morning?"

She slumps out of bed and reaches towards its and answers it.

* * *

"Hello?" she asks the person on the other end.

"Hello there, Ms. Ayanami." a deep, mechanical voice growls back. "I know who you are and I know what you do."

"Who is this?" Rei asks the person on the other end.

"I'm not telling, Ms. Ayanami." the person growls back. "Only time will tell."

Growing more impatient, Rei sighs, hangs the phone up and sarcastically mutters, "Well I had enough of that."

* * *

She puts her cell aside, gets out of bed and walks over to the table she put the parcel at.

She picks it up and rips it open, revealing a shiny royal blue night gown, a copy of the Postal Fudge Pack and a copy of the album "Three Young Men Killed by Heat: Cruel Love Story" by the band "Engrish."

A note is also found among the presents which reads,"Have a very happy birthday, our darling daughter."

Rei smiles, mutters "Thanks mom and dad." and sets the note aside.

She then looks at the night gown, picks it up, nods and walks into the bathroom.

* * *

A few seconds later, she emerges from the bathroom wearing nothing but the night gown, which is draped over her body in the softest, most silky way possible.

She walks over towards a mirror and examines herself wearing said night gown, leaning her body in somewhat suggestive poses and muttering to herself in a surprised tone, "Wow...my folks sure picked such a wafer thin gown."

* * *

Before she could get the chance to change into more acceptable public wear, the doorbell rings.

"Oh now what." Rei mutters to herself in an annoyed tone. She then asks, "Who is it?"

The person outside shouts back, "Rei...it's me Shinji. Can I come in?"

Rei's cheeks turn a light shade of pink and gains a look of nervousness in her face. However, she quickly brushes it off and replies, "One second."

* * *

She walks up and opens the door to be greeted by Shinji, who quickly goes from looking doe eyed to being completely stunned by the sight in front on him.

"...Rei...you...look amazing." Shinji stammers, trying his hardest to remain polite while gazing at her stunning figure and posture.

She gives him her always warm and angelic smile and replies, "...thank you.". She then adds, "Have a seat."

Shinji nods back, takes his shoes off and sits on the couch. Rei immediately sits next to him.

* * *

"So what's up?" she asks him.

"Well...for one...Happy Birthday, Rei." he replies back, sounding a bit awkward.

"Thanks" Rei responds, then adds. "Well, it kinda sucks that my mom and dad cannot be here to celebrate my 14th birthday with me."

"Wow." Shinji replies. "Then again, father never tried to be there on my birthdays."

"That sucks." Rei replies back, patting her friend on the back to calm him down. "Did your did even stick around for your birthdays when...you were smaller?"

"I don't remember if he did...but I do remember we used to be so close...then..." Shinji tries to reply, but simply stammers back instead.

"Now now there, Shinji." Rei responds. "Just take it easy. Lemme get changed so we can go out and spend my birthday together. Just you and me."

Shinji looks around as he hears what Rei is saying, but then his eyes widen as he hears her tell him it'll just be him and her.

"How does that sound?" she asks him, which he continues to be unsure of what to say. While he remains unable to reply, Rei contemplates reaching her right hand towards his legs, but doesn't act out on it in favor of saving it for later.

"I think it sounds alright." Shinji finally replies back, though sounding a little nervous.

"Ok, i'll be right back." Rei tells him, which she gets up, gets some clothes out of her drawers and walks into her bathroom.

* * *

Shinji remains put and looks around the apartment, still rather curious over Rei's belongings.

* * *

The bathroom door opens up and Rei walks out, now dressed in a Sinister Diabolical Summoning T-Shirt and slightly tattered jeans. She walks up to Shinji and tells him, "Alrighty, let's go."

Shinji looks at her, nods and stands up.

* * *

Both kids then put on their shoes and leave the apartment. Rei shuts the door and locks it before she and Shinji depart to hang out with each other.

* * *

As they walk through the streets, Shinji asks Rei, "Ummmm...Rei...I know it's your birthday...but wouldn't you like to have Mari hang out with us?"

"Hmmm...Mari..." Rei replies, thinking for a second, then replies. "I have a feeling we'll run into her later in the day."

* * *

"Ms. Katsuragi...can you let me in?" Mari yells, knocking on the apartment door. "I know i'm in on the surprise party, but I got something to tell you."

* * *

Before Mari starts to get really impatient, the door opens up, revealing not Misato but Asuka standing in front of it.

"What do you want Mari?" Asuka asks her, sounding a little bored.

"Asuka...I know Misato and company are throwing a big birthday party for Rei, but I just realized something..." Mari replies, though when she tries to explain what exactly she has to say, she hesitates for a little bit.

Asuka continues to stand there, looking very unamused and grumbles back, "Come on, Mari...just spit it out."

"I...need to take a shower. I forgot to take one at home." Mari replies, obviously fibbing.

"Use our shower?" Asuka replies back, looking a bit confused.

* * *

Right before Asuka could say another thing, Misato walks up to her, sees Mari and replies, "Yeah Mari, come inside. You can use our shower all the time."

"Thanks." Mari responds, taking her shoes off and walking into the apartment.

* * *

Inside, Mari asks Misato, "So...where's the shower?"

"Right over there." Misato replies, pointing her finger to direct Mari to the bathroom.

"Oh good." Mari nods and smiles, which she makes her way into the bathroom.

* * *

Asuka walks up to Misato and tells her, "So you didn't warn Mari of Pen Pen, eh?"

"Oh I don't think she'll mine." Misato smiles. "I heard she's really, really friendly with animals."

Asuka squints her eyes and replies, "I hope you weren't being ironic when you said that."

Misato at first doesn't react to it, but then it hits her which she yells back, "I DIDN'T IMPLY ANYTHING DISGUSTING WHEN I SAID THAT!"

* * *

Mari, who is now completely stripped down to her birthday suit and her hair completely let down, steps into the shower.

Despite not wearing her glasses, she tries her best to bathe herself in the slick, refreshing water, sliding her soap drenched fingers throughout her body and rubbing her shampoo covered hair to ensure a squeaky clean self.

* * *

However, as soap bubbles are dripping off her body, she notices something funny in the shower.

"Hmmm...why is there steam coming out of that corner," Mari ponders as she examines a corner of the shower with tell tale gaps surrounding it.

Due to her less than desirable vision without her glasses, she doesn't initially notice a doorknob on it, but she puts her hand on it and pulls it, opening the corner and to her shock, Pen Pen shakes his body to brush off the water.

* * *

Startled, Mari makes a mad dash out of the bathroom and right into the living room, stammering, "Ms. Katsuragi, there's a bloody penguin in your bathroom!"

"That's Pen Pen. He's a warmwater penguin who lives with me, Shinji and Asuka" Misato explains.

"You could've told me a ahead of time." Mari replies, still feeling quite annoyed.

* * *

However, Asuka then tells her, "Hey Mari...might want to get yourself some clothes on."

Hearing that, Mari then realizes she just exposed her naked body to both Asuka and Misato, which she quickly retreats back into the bathroom to clean up and get back into her clothes.

* * *

While walking towards the shopping district, Rei asks Shinji, "Say...would you like to get a bite before I go record shopping?". She then immediately adds, "It's on me."

Shinji replies, "Well...ummm...maybe it would be better if you just skipped getting lunch and instead go straight to the record shop...in case something bigger and better is in store for you?"

Rei thinks for a second, smiles at Shinj and replies, "Yeah...i'm cool with that. It's my birthday, so something special could happen."

"Right." Shinji smiles and nods back, obviously trying his hardest to not spoil the surprise.

* * *

Both kids then resume walking to the shopping district.

* * *

Once there, they make their way to the record shop and step inside it.

* * *

"Sup Rei." the store owner greets here. "What brings ya here?"

"Well it's my fourteenth birthday, so i'm doing a little birthday shopping." Rei replies. "Any little special sales going on?"

"Hahahahahaha. Oh Rei...you know I don't do any special sales and deals here." the store owner chuckles back.

"Well shit." Rei whispers to herself.

The store owner then adds, "I'm just kidding. All items in the store are 30% off when someone is having a birthday. It's all on me."

"Oh okay." Rei nods and replies back.

Shinji then asks her, "So you know the store owner?"

"I'm a regular." Rei replies. "Always cool to see what they got in here."

"Ah." Shinji nods back.

* * *

Rei begins to look around the shop, checking the import bins for some interesting finds.

However, her cellphone rings, greatly startling her.

She quickly pulls it out of one of her jeans pockets, grumbles a little and answers it.

"Hello?" she asks the person on the other hand.

"I didn't like how you hung up on me during our last conversation." the person growls back in his deep, evil, mechanical voice.

"Oh you again?" Rei groans back. "What are you..some kind of jokester pulling a crank call prank on me?"

"Oh no no no, Ms. Ayanami...I want you to look out of the window." he orders her.

"Ummmm...are you sure you know where i'm at?" she asks him, doubting he knows a single thing.

"Just look...it's not like it matters anyhow." he chuckles back in a menacing manner.

"Fine, i'll look." Rei sneers at him.

* * *

She walks towards the nearest window of the record shop and to her bewilderment, she sees a caped figure wearing some sort of cybernetic helmet that covers it's entire face.

The figure turns its head towards her and waves back, sending chills down her spine.

She steps away from the window, turns her attention back to her cellphone and tries to respond.

However, she hears that the person on the other end has hung up, which makes her look back out of the window, only to find that the figure has vanished out of the plain sight.

* * *

"Rei, are you okay?" Shinji asks her.

"Yeah, i'm fine." she replies, sounding still a bit haunted by what just happened.

* * *

She then hangs up and goes to put it back in her pocket, only for it to immediately ring again, much to her annoyance.

* * *

"Okay, please explain to me who the hell you are!" she yells at the person on the other end.

"Woah, Rei...chill out." Mari replies, which makes Rei embarrassed.

"Oh i'm sorry, Mari." she replies back. "I thought you were this other person that's been bugging me since this morning."

"Oh...I wonder who could that be?" she asks her friend.

"I'm not sure who it is outside of the fact that not only this guy sounds like Darth Vader, I literally, I mean...literally just saw Darth Vader outside of the record shop." Rei explains, sounding extremely confused.

"So..a caller who sounds like Darth Vader and you saw him outside...sounds like a hell of a stalker." Mari replies with a bit of a chuckle in her voice. "Just make sure he's not one of those wankers that beat off to those rape doujins...or hope he isn't."

"Yeah...but I got Shinji with me." Rei tells her.

She then sighs in relief, then asks her friend, "So what's up?"

"Ummmm...i'm not sure...except something weird is going on here." Mari tells her.

"What you mean by 'weird', you silly brit." Rei asks her.

"I dunno...just go to Misato's after you're done looking around in the record shop. She probably wants you to drop Shinji off." Mari replies, sounding a little strange.

"Ummmm...alright...are you at Misato's?" she asks her friend.

"No, i'm just having...ummmm...a hunch. That's all." Mari adds.

"Alright...so I guess i'll see you later." Rei tells her.

"I think so." Mari replies, only to abruptly hang up.

"Geez...why is everyone so weird today?" Rei ponders.

* * *

She looks at Shinji and tells him, "Ok, let's go to Misato's. I can wait to buy some CDs when I get more birthday money."

Shinji nods back, which they leave the store.

* * *

As Rei and Shinji leave the record shop, the store owner asks Rei, "Well what about the discount?"

"Nah, I would feel more honored if I payed regular price for my stuff." Rei humors him.

"Okay...I guess that makes sense." he replies. "Take care, then...and happy birthday!"

"Thanks." Rei replies and leaves the shop altogether.

* * *

About a good 15 minutes later, Rei and Shinji make it to Misato's apartment.

* * *

Outside, Rei asks Shinji, "Soo...I guess i'll see you later."

"Yeah." Shinji replies, "but...can you open the door for me?"

"Sure thing." Rei replies and smiles back at him.

* * *

As she opens the door, a gigantic wave of voices greet her by joyfully shouting, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY REI!"

With her eyes wide open in surprise, Rei happily stammers, "...thank you."

"Well come inside." Misato tells her with a smile on her face. "We can't have a birthday party without the birthday girl.

Rei smiles and walks into Misato's apartment with Shinji accompanying her.

* * *

Inside the apartment, she sees a great deal of people she knows. Faces ranging from Yui Ikari all the way to Claire Phoenix.

"How did you all arrange this?" she asks them.

"Well...we all know that you got friends at school and since we at Nerv have nothing to worry about, we all felt like throwing you a big birthday party." Yui tells her.

"So...not only all of you managed to find some time off, but also got my school friends all under the same roof just for my birthday?" Rei asks them. "I am relatively surprised and thankful for this."

"Yeah...we knew you would like it... especially since without you, Nerv wouldn't have been able to deal with all those angels showing up as efficiently." Kaji tells her.

* * *

As Rei stands in awe, Aoba walks up to her, holding her guitar in his hands and whispers, "Hey...it's time we show them how we rock."

"Yes, yes." Rei whispers back.

She takes her guitar and follows Aoba to an area with two guitar amps and plugs are set up.

They plug their guitars in and start their pre-planned guitar battle.

* * *

At first, Aoba seems to have the upper hand with his greater amount of time to gain experience, yet Rei's noodling grows faster and more complex.

He tries to catch her off guard with a crescendo of riffs and chords that would be too hard for even a guitarist with a decent amount of experience.

Yet, Rei completely blows him and everyone else away with her own ridiculous, hard to emulate series of solos and riffs.

"Man, ain't she good?" Mari asks DesuLoli.

"I...don't like this kind of music, but yeah, she's impressive." she replies back.

"and that's why I play drums with them." Mari adds. "...but we need a bassist before we can start writing material."

"Oh." Toji replies. "I wish I could help, but I can't play bass."

"Neither can I." Kensuke adds.

The guitar battle reaches an level of sheer insanity as the riffage and chord progressions reach borderline orchestral levels of complexity, which Rei and Aoba have broke a sweat over keeping their A game on.

However, one of the strings on Aoba's guitar breaks, causing him to shout out, "Aw shit", making Rei win the battle by default.

She immediately stops and puts her guitar down, looking quite sweaty and exhausted.

"Rei...that's very friggin' impressive." Claire tells her.

"Well thank you." Rei replies.

* * *

"Okay...who wants cake?" Gendo asks everyone.

However, before anyone could say anything, Mari stands up and tells everyone, "Before you...ummm...take out the cake, I want to tell you all that...it's my birthday too."

Everyone looks at Mari, stunned, but then quickly joyfully shout out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU TOO, MARI!", which fills her heart with a warm feeling and her lips move into a heartwarming smile.

"Well lemme get the cake out, then." Gendo tells everyone, which he runs into the kitchen and puts a rather ridiculous amount of candles onto a delicious looking cookies, cream and red velvet ice cream cake.

* * *

After lighting the candles, he takes the cake out, which prompts everyone except Rei and Mari to joyfully chant, "Happy birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday...Rei and Mari...Happy birthday to you!"

"Alright, girls...blow out the candles." Yui tells them.

Rei looks at Mari and asks her, "So...I guess you blow out the right side set of candles and I blow out the rest?"

"Yeah yeah, i'm itching to have some of this cake." Mari replies, which Rei nods back.

The girls do exactly what they said and blow out the candles, which everyone around them claps and cheers at them.

Both girls smile and nod at everyone, which Gendo and Yui take the cake, put it on a table and take all of the candles out.

* * *

A good 40 minutes later, everyone has eaten all of the cake.

"Alright everyone...get in front of the camera. I want to take a picture of us all so we can remember this day years from now." Yui tells them all.

Everyone nods and get into their own places in front of the camera to get their picture taken.

* * *

With everyone standing in front of the camera, Rei notices that someone is missing, which she asks Hyuga, "Say...where is Maya?"

"Honestly...I have no idea." he replies.

Yui gets the timer of the camera set up, then gets back into her place, which they all pose and take pictures.

* * *

Outside of Misato's apartment, it's raining.

The Dark One is standing on the balcony of Misato's apartment, staring at the window and seeing all of the people in there.

He does not say a single word and dramatically turns around with his cape swaying along to walk away in the dark, rainy night.


	35. Chapter 34: They Call Her Misaki

**Chapter 34: They Call Her Misaki**

* * *

After a long, eventful day of partying, Rei has been returned to her apartment, complete with a large stash of gifts she received over the course of the day.

She looks at her copy of "Reconstruction of Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two", rolls her eyes and tells herself "Alright, i'll finally watch it.", which she gets up, takes the DVD out of it's case and puts it into her Playstation 3.

* * *

About a good two hours later, she takes it out and mutters, "Well, that was a huge improvement over Divided by Eleven. Lemme go see what people think of it on LagannFreaks"

She puts the DVD back in its case, puts it aside, sits down on a chair near her computer and goes online.

* * *

Online, Rei immediately goes to LagannFreaks, a fan site/forum dedicated to the Buster Lagann franchise.

She makes a thread which she proclaims her love of the new movie and afterwards, search other places on the forum.

* * *

A minute later, she returns to her thread and sees that a few new posts by other people have been made.

The first response reads, "Cool. Nice to see a fresh face enjoy the movie.", which Rei nods at.

However, the responses after that take a decidedly more...bitter tone.

"This movie sucks and is an embarrassment to the franchise!" the second response reads.

"Ouch." Rei mutters in response.

"I think all of the people in her use ritualistic initiations of buffets and large parties instead of actual human interaction." the third post reads with a vicious, snarky tone.

"Ok that's BS." Rei mutters, obviously getting a bit irritated by the stream of negative replies.

"Buster Lagann Two Divided by Twenty-Two was a shameless raping of my love of Buster Lagann, you twit. All actions of it revolve around in a vacuum like everyone doesn't even spend time to talk. All it really is just an animated adaption of The Room...except The Room makes me laugh and Divided by Twenty-Two spat in my face." the fourth comment proclaims, oozing with acidic vitriolic spite.

"Man what did I get myself into?" Rei ponders, browsing through the various comments.

The thread then gets derailed into an argument debating the quality of the film, with both sides acting sardonic and vicious, obviously forgetting that this was just a simple proclamation of Rei commenting she likes the film.

* * *

Due to it being late and witnessing her little thread getting locked, Rei rolls her eyes and irritatingly mutters, "You know...i'm just going to make a Cornette face and go 'Fuck This Community!'", which she shuts off her computer, walks away, gets into her pajamas and goes to sleep in a very sour mood.

* * *

_**The Next Day...**_

* * *

Rei is walking to school with Mari and Shinji.

Still miffed by what happened on the internet the night before, she doesn't really talk much to her friends.

"Rei...what's the matter?" Shinji quietly asks her.

"I...went online last night and joined LagannFreaks. I watched Divided by Twenty-Two and thought it would be fun to express that I liked it, but no. A bunch of jerkwards started to hound on me, acting like elitist assholes by calling me an idiot for liking it and such, then other people who liked it got into a fight with the detractors and...my thread was locked. What a load of garbage." Rei grumbles back in annoyance at her friends

"That's why I stay away from internet forums." Mari replies. "Nothing but a waste of my time and mental state."

"Well I do like to chat with other people online sometimes...especially when I play my games online." Rei tells her friend. "but man...that was downright ridiculous what I saw."

"I can see the appeal of online forums, but it's not for me." Mari replies back. "I remember trying to fit into the whole forum thing back home, but I already had enough burdens on me, so I just ditched it altogether."

"That's rather extreme." Rei responds while looking a little concerned. "plus what do you mean about 'enough burdens', my friend?"

"Oh it's nothing I should dwell on." Mari replies, quickly whitewashing Rei's attempt to ask her to go in depth.

"Alright then." Rei replies back, despite sighing a bit in disapproval.

* * *

The group, without any balking, continues walking to school.

* * *

About 10 minutes later, the group arrives at school and enter their class.

They all go to their respective seats and await the instructions of the day.

However, when class starts, Hikari stands in front of the class and announces, "Class...please stand up!"

The other students stand up and look at the front of the class.

"Everyone...I like you all to meet our new classmate." Hikari tells them. She turns her head towards the girl and whispers, "Ummm...you can speak up now."

The new girl, who has medium length brown hair, dark eye circles and overall looks relatively sickly, smiles back, looks at her new classmates and tells them, "Hi. My name is Misaki Baisotei. Hope to get acquainted with you all real soon." while constantly smiling, which Rei, Mari and even Asuka find to be a bit unsettling.

"Alright Misaki, you can take one of the empty seats available." Hikari tells her.

To everyone's surprise, she sits next to Asuka, which makes her a little unnerved.

Misaki looks at her and asks, "So...you must be Asuka Langley Soryu?"

"How do you know that?" she asks her.

"I dunno. I guess I was watching some news feeds on my way over here." Misaki replies back.

"Ahem." Hikari groans at them. "Please keep quiet in class you two."

"Sorry Hikari." Misaki quietly replies back, which Asuka gives her a sneer.

"Mari..there's something...off-kilter about that Misaki girl." Rei tells her friend.

"Yeah, I know." Mari shrugs back.

* * *

Shortly after school, Rei and Mari are walking on campus, obviously meaning to their own business before leaving when DesuLoli approaches them, looking quite upset.

"Hey Kristina...what's the matter?" Rei asks her.

"Rei..do you go by the user name 'BlueHairWonder01' on LagannFreaks?" DesuLoli asks back.

"By a matter of fact yes I do." Rei replies. "You're a member on there too?"

"Yes. I go by the username 'SuperKawaiiOtaku671' and...I have to ask you for a favor?" she tells and asks her.

"What you need?" Rei replies back.

"Well...i've been writing a Buster Lagann fanfic and...the usual suspects of elitist jerks that patrol the Reconstruction subforum have been...tormenting me over how much my fic...sucks in their eyes." DesuLoli explains. "and I want to see if you can...write a story that'll teach them a lesson."

"Well i'm not too busy at the moment, so sure...I can do that." Rei replies while smiling.

* * *

However, Asuka, who's been overhearing the conversation, walks up to them, gets into DesuLoli's face and yells, "You like that piece of völlige Scheiße?"

"Well yeah." DesuLoli replies. "In fact, I like it a lot more than the dreadful original series."

"You're full of crap." Asuka sneers at her. "Reconstruction is a complete insult to the franchise and those who are fans of it. You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Hey now, Asuka. I quite like Reconstruction as much as I like the series." Rei adds.

Not interested in arguing with Rei, Asuka raises her right hand and yells, "I'm not talking to you, wonder girl, i'm talking to your baka of a friend DesuLoli and her love of the asinine Reconstruction films over the far superior originals."

Rei rolls her eyes in irritation and stays quiet.

"Now you might not know it, but the original made me weep when I saw my favorite characters die and go through all the crap they suffered, but Reconstruction is a total, complete spit in the face of the spirit of the original that's close to my heart and that's why I utter despise pieces of scheiße like you who support the merchandise driven molestation of the Buster Lagann series." Asuka continues to yell bitterly at DesuLoli.

"Asuka, I consider you a friend like everyone else I know, but you're acting completely silly." DesuLoli replies. "Yes, while I don't like the original Buster Lagann series, there's plenty of sheer greatness it presents which I very much accept and appreciate. I just don't like the trite cliches that bogged down the original which made it less enjoyable for me to watch."

"Trite and cliché?" Asuka raises her voice. "You're such a moronic baka. Reconstruction is a million times more trite and cliché than the original and you're an ungrateful piece of trash for thinking like that."

"and this why I stay away from internet forums." Mari whispers to Rei.

"Come on, you two. This is not the time for you two to argue over such trivial things like a friggin' anime." Rei groans at them.

"Shut up, wonder girl!." Asuka yells at her. "This is between me and DesuLoli so please stop butting in!"

"Fine." Rei groans back.

* * *

From a distance, Misaki spies on the argument through binoculars. She has a devious grin on her face and remarks, "This is all too perfect of an incentive for me."

She then puts her binoculars away and walks towards the estranged group.

* * *

"Asuka, can't we just accept we have radically different opinions of the same movie?" DesuLoli asks her in a remorseful tone.

"..nope. No way. I cannot accept your approval of those foul, disgusting movies." Asuka sneers back.

Without any sense of warning, Misaki walks up and tells them, "Hey now what's going on?"

Asuka darts her head towards Misaki and yells, "Hey you're not a part of this argument, new girl."

"Now now, Asuka." she replies. "I just want to talk to DesuLoli. Is that okay?"

DesuLoli shakes her head in approval, obviously wanting to get out of this heated debate.

"Fine, just take her out of my sight!" Asuka snarls at Misaki.

"Yes." DesuLoli quietly exclaims as she walks away from Asuka and follows Misaki. "I'll see you later Rei...and good luck with that story."

"Same to you..and I won't let you down." Rei replies while waving back.

Mari looks at Rei and whispers, "I think we should go to your place before Asuka busts our heads open.", which Rei nods back and they immediately make a mad dash for it, leaving Asuka alone.

"Wait...I didn't mean for you all to abandon me!" she yells in dissatisfaction over the direction the situation went. "Just because I dislike Reconstruction doesn't mean we can't be friends!"

However, she stomps on the grass and grumbles to herself, "Was für eine Last von gottverdammte Scheiße!"

* * *

"Sorry if we haven't introduced each other sooner, but my name is Misaki Baisotei. Nice to meet you...Kristina Hoffle..or shall I just call you...DesuLoli." Misaki introduces herself.

"So I guess you're a fan of my internet show?" DesuLoli asks her.

"Oh yes I am, it's an honor to meet a minor celebrity like you." she replies back, smiling at her.

"Well i'm quite...speechless." DesuLoli replies, obviously getting butterflies in her gut meeting a fan of her show.

"Thanks...so I guess you can...ummm...show me around town, eh?" Misaki asks her.

"Sure." she tells her, which the girls proceed to walk out of the school grounds.

* * *

Shortly before departing, Claire approaches them, asking, "Can I come along with you two?"

However, to her surprise, Misaki ignores her, grabs DesuLoli by the hand and takes her away.

"Kristina, I want to help show the new girl around too." she pouts in disappointment.

DesuLoli immediately stops and tries to keep Misaki from dragging her along. She tells her, "Come on, new girl. Claire is a friend of mine. She can show you around town too."

Acting coldly arrogant, Misaki effortlessly drags DesuLoli along, much to her shock and to Claire's disappointment.

Seeing that they've a bit out of distance, Claire mutters, "That new girl...there's something really off and...cruel about her."

* * *

Back at her apartment, Rei, accompanied by her friend Mari, is sitting by her computer and has a writing document open.

"So what are trying to think of?" Mari asks her.

"I dunno. I want to write something...crazy and over the top." Rei sighs, obviously struggling to figure out what her story for DesuLoli should be about.

"So...aside from that...can I watch a movie while I chill here?" Mari asks her.

"Yeah go ahead and browse my library." Rei replies back while trying to come up with ideas.

"Hmmmm...okay. I think it could be where this woman is having a major case of unhinged paranoia and she is being hounded by this group of half-retarded zombies. They constantly drag along whips and chains to vanish her. I think that they are chasing after her because she..hates the Watchmen movie." Rei thinks, trying to conjure an interesting plot that is the basis for her story.

However, she rolls her eyes and mutters, "Nah...that's not interesting. Relatively boring actually." as she quickly scraps that idea and comes up with another.

"Okay maybe it should be about a really bald yet muscular detective who rides around on a pneumatic bicycle. He goes after this group of skinheads that have stolen the world's supply of doughnuts and copies of Pink Floyd's 'The Final Cut'...because they don't like either and want to deprive everyone of both?" Rei continues to think.

Again, she mutters, "Bah, that's even stupider than the last idea I had.", totally scrapping that one instantly.

"Alright..maybe I should write about this guy who's driving a sedan and crashes it. He is scorched like flaming yawn on a grill and resurfaces a few years later as Sir Toasty, which he must fight this man with an afro going around hacking off body parts that was originally his and he...was the big rival of Sir Toasty prior to the accident because they strongly disagree their views on...Alien 3?" Rei again ponders some more on finding an acceptable story to write.

"Eh...too derivative of Do-Man and Body Parts." Rei shrugs, again quickly scrapping yet another rejected story idea.

"Still having trouble there?" Mari asks her while looking through her friend's DVD collection.

"Yeah, but i'll eventually find the right idea." Rei replies back, looking a bit unsure and clenching her hands over her head.

* * *

Somewhere by a deserted alleyway, DesuLoli leans against a wall, looking very flustered over what's going on.

"Misaki..what's your problem?" she asks her. "What's your big problem with Claire Phoenix?"

"Oh nothing, Kristina Hoffle." she replies back in a relatively sinister tone as she emerges from a shadowy corner, pulls her right index finger out on her mouth as if shes' tasting something and has an evil grin on her face. "It's just..I wanted to get us alone..one on one."

"Whoa whoa whoa." DesuLoli stammers back. "You think i'm a homosexual and you wanted to drag me into a darkened alleyway alone with you just so you can hit on me?"

"No no no, Kristina Hoffle." she replies, keeping her eerie, malicious tone of voice. "I am not interested in sexual relations and I have no desire to hit on you.". She gets right up into DesuLoli's face with her almost unnatural grin and adds, "Hit you...on the other hand...is what i'm very much cool with."

"...What do you mean by that?" she asks her.

Without replying, Misaki deliberately punches DesuLoli in the gut, showing no sense of emotion in her face.

DesuLoli, winded and quite sore from the punch, kneels to the ground, looks up at Misaki with a horrified expression and painfully moans, "Wh..wha...why?"

Misaki continues to simply stare and DesuLoi, showing no sign of walking away.

Bidding her time and trying to resist the pain, DesuLoli finds a crowbar near her, picks it up, quickly darts up and clobbers Misaki in the face in retaliation.

However, Misaki slowly turns her head around, revealing a bit of a fresh gash on her face.

Despite blood dribbling off of her face, Misaki simply smiles back and doesn't even wince in pain over her wound, which horrifies and baffles DesuLoli to the point where she asks her, "...what are you?"

Misaki licks her lips, cranks her head a bit and grinds her right fist right into DesuLoli's face, knocking her out cold.

* * *

With DesuLoli knocked out, Misaki kneels down, showing no hint of expressing pain and sorrow, pulls her cellphone out, dials a number and tells the person on the other end of the line, "Master Lorenz...I have the American girl."

"Good, my dear Baisotei." Keel replies, showing satisfaction. He then adds, "Once the angel makes its way to Tokyo-3, I want you to dial this number I have to set your final objective into motion."

"Ok Master." Misaki replies back. " but what about DJ?"

"Don't worry about him." Keel replies. "He and Kaworu will be making their way to Tokyo-3 in a few weeks to scout the area for us so we can set our master plan in motion."

"You mean...The Human Instrumentality Project?" Misaki replies, "haven't you told Mayumi about this plan too?"

"No Misaki." Keel replies, "Mayumi has too much to worry about already and I don't want to burden her any further with out plans of population unification."

"Alright, I see." Misaki replies back. "So I should just take the American girl back to my EVA?"

"Yes." Keel replies. "I'll talk to you after you've completed your mission...good luck my dear child."

"Thanks Master Lorenz." Misaki replies and hangs up.

After hanging the cell phone up and putting it away, Miskai effortlessly picks DesuLoli up and takes her away, completely out of anyone's sight.

* * *

Still trying to come up with a good story idea, Rei looks around the room and sees that Mari is watching the original "Hysterical Violence", which quickly makes Rei remember an idea she had, smiles and tells herself, "Yes...Bloodjaw. That's what the story should be about. All too perfect."


	36. Chapter 35: Tragedy of Saying Goodbye

"Master Terrence...my name is Daniel Barton. I'm here to bring the attention of a 'request' of an assassination to you." a thin man in a dusty black tuxedo informs a haggard man with blood stained bandages wrapped around his head.

"What could this assassination request pertain to?" Master Terrence asks Daniel. "We haven't had any requests for hits in a week, so please...enlighten me over what the job is."

"Well...this 16 year old girl by the name of Krissy Nathanielson, best know as TheAnimeFreak, has requested your best man to take out a group of 'snarky' individuals giving her hell over how she loves the live action tetralogy adaption of the famous anime 'Power Deceiver and the Angels of Hate'." Daniel replies back and explains, though he starts to crack up over explaining the absurdity of the request.

"Daniel, we don't fill such petty and trivial requests." Terrence replies, chuckling a bit over the request. "I greatly despise fanbases and what they all stand for with a burning passion, but I find sending out our best assassin to take down fans who disagree with another to be in poor taste."

"Exactly." Daniel nods back. "but as dumb and childish as it sounds, there's a major catch."

Terrence's eyes open wide, which he leans towards Daniel and asks, "What's the catch, eh?"

"Little Miss Krissy is of royalty. Her parents are very very wealthy. This little job of ours can foist a great paycheck onto us."

Terrence leans back, thinks for a few seconds, then replies, "Okay...i'm in...but who should we send in?"

"Perhaps the Surf Ninja?" Daniel asks him. "I've heard he's pretty well qualified to do the job despite his love of reefer."

"No." Terrence snaps back. "This job calls for a real assassin."

"Who?" Daniel questions him. "Who's this 'real' assassin you plan to pay for the job?"

Terrence shifts his eyes, leans towards Daniel's face and replies, "...Bloodjaw."

Daniel's eyes open wide in a fashion that suggest he has nothing else to say.

* * *

"So you want me to drive my ass to Pittsburgh and Oklahoma just to murder some detractors of a live action tetralogy adaption of some stupid anime?" a sinister sounding man gutturally snarls at Terrence, which both men are sitting in dingy, poorly lit room.

A gloved hand reaches towards a cigarette and pulls it. Blood stains has soaked the living hell of the cigarette as the hand grinds it into an ashtray. Blood drips onto the coffee table as the hand pulls out another cigarette and lights it.

"Bloodjaw, why must you smoke in my lobby?" Terrence annoying asks him.

"...because I can and I don't a fuck anyhow." Bloodjaw snarls back in a snarky tone as he continues to work at the cigarette. His face consists of a shiny pitch black motorcycle helmet with part of it on the bottom sawed off, revealing a blood soaked skinless mouth.

He leans back a little, then adds, "I still think this is the single stupidest assassination request i've ever received. Sure, the pay is amazing, but the concept alone is fuckin' retarded and childish. Driving on my million dollar Harley to two locations to kill two innocent pricks that don't agree with this bitch's opinion on some dumb ass movies not only strikes to me as unfathomably dumb, but also brutally thoughtcrimish."

"I know, I know. I completely agree with you." Terrence replies, but leans back, smiles and adds, "but the pay. It'll be the most we'll ever get in our damn lives. Besides...someone wants to speak to you."

* * *

Despite his eyes not being visible, he rolls them in discontent as he turns around and sees a teenage girl with blonde and pink hair.

Seeing Bloodjaw, the girl is taken aback by his disturbing, somewhat stomach churning appearance, but remembers why she's there.

She looks at him and informs, "Mr. Bloodjaw...my name is Krissy Nathanielson but you can just call me TheAnimeFreak."

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me?" Bloodjaw scoffs back in his head, then adds. "Well it's nice to meet you...AnimeFreak." with a subtle sense of embarrassment.

"Same here." Krissy replies. "Now while my folks are going to fork over a lot for you to get the job done, I want absolute proof that you did."

"Wait...what do you mean by that?" Bloodjaw asks her, which he then tells himself, "Man I really should just blow her fuckin' head in half if she's gonna pester my ass over doing my goddamn job."

"I want you to...bring me a little part of them to show me that you dispatched their ungrateful selves. No tiptoeing around me. Just pure proof." Krissy replies in a relatively stern voice.

Bloodjaw just nods back and replies back, "Yes yes I will do this. Now please...let me go and do my job, mmmkay?"

Krissy, satisfied with what Bloodjaw told her, smiles and hugs him, which confuses him at first but then simply rolls with it and hugs her back, though the blood of his exposed jaw drips on her left shoulder.

* * *

After they both break away from each other, Krissy points her right index finger up and tells Bloodjaw, "Hang on a second...I got something for you to make your appearance less obvious.".

"Okay okay...show me what you got." he replies back and stands back as the girl walks to another side of the room and grabs a paper bag. She brings it back and hands it over to him.

Bloodjaw takes a peak into the bag, darts his head back up to Krissy and replies, "The fuck is this shit?"

* * *

_Claremore, Oklahoma_

* * *

"Well shit man...this person keeps posting this textual vomit. It keeps getting ridiculous.".

Someone is sitting by their computer. On their computer is the site "Incredibly_Upcoming_", a movie website dedicated to films on the way. It contains a forum that has a bit of a controversial stride in how wildly decisive and split opinions can be.

A dog jumps onto the chair next to the chair where the computer is at. It looks at the screen but simply tilts its head back and forth only to jump off of it.

In another room of the posh looking house in the suburbs, a lanky man with messy brown hair walks around with a cellphone, chatting with another person on the other end of the line.

"Yes I know that I really should be away from the internet, but goddamn these people can get so stupid. Hell, I actually find the live action Power Deceiver film to be okay, but seriously...there's too many flaws for me to stay quite." the man talks into it.

He passes by a stockier man sitting on a couch, wearing a Oklahoma Sooners T-Shirt, somewhat baggy jeans and a Nickelback hat, drinking a bottle of Smirnoff Black Ice and watching a game of Football on the television.

"Hey Gerald, get your skinny ass out of the way. I don't want to miss a single play of my homeboys." the stocky man loudly grumbles.

Gerald turns around and yells, "Goddammitt Berty why do you always have to get all up in arms at me when i'm in the way of your precious football shit. You see i'm on the phone?"

"Well yeah..." he replies back, pauses, takes a sip of his drink and adds, "but I don't give a fuck that you're on the phone. I'm tired of your and your bullshit 'persecution complex' crap you make me put up with."

Not really interested in putting up with him while on the phone, Gerald simply walks out of the way and walks towards the front door.

While standing by the door, Gerald continues to chat on the phone until the door bell rings, making him tell the person on the other end of the line, "Alright man, someone's at the door. I'll chat with you on IRC later.".

* * *

Gerald hangs up the phone and opens the door, only to open his eyes in bewilderment as he sees a fairly tall man in a leather jacket, leather gloves, black jeans and biker boots wearing a Norio Wakamoto mask over his head which makes him think to himself, "The fuck is this shit?"

The man bows and cheekily asks, "The just a little person, I am said selling the stock where you rori are splendid. That is correct, is?"

"Ummm...pardon me, buddy?" Gerald asks, sounding even more perplexed by why this strange person has come to visit him.

"Well coming being, I when you each other dye the kusotai hair with tentacle deirudo, heard the girl of a hot teen and with the best of the pornography of animation. The companion please not be disappointed to me?" the strange man asks him again, sounding a little disappointed in Gerald's response.

"Why is this son of a bitch speaking on broken Engrish?" he continues to ask himself why this is happening of all things.

"The person who comes on. As for me like CM flat tire of WWE of all ones dangling, please do not keep. Please teach just the place where the pornography of this kusoanime is retained?" the man asks again, sounding increasingly more impatient and irritated.

"Look man, if you could just stop talking to me in that piece of shit Engrish you're speaking in and actually try to speaking proper English, I could help you with what you want but at this state...i'm afraid I can't so please...go bug some other tortured soul's home with your verbal vomit." Gerald yells at him, looking like he's about to reach for his cellphone and call for the cops to have the man removed from the premises.

"After that, safely…Don't you think? hateful the person, it is to act playfully!" the man screams which he kicks Gerald right back into his house and proceeds to walk in and shut the door behind him.

* * *

Inside the house, Gerald tries to crawl away from the invader, but he grabs him by the back of his shirt, lifts him up and tosses him into the living room. Gerald turns himself over and looks at the man with a look of fear on his face. However, the man just stands there, lifts his right index finger and takes off his mask, revealing that it was Bloodjaw all along.

Gerald keeps looking at him, only now with an increased sense of utter despair and horror after he revealed what was underneath the mask. Bloodjaw pulls out a pistol and growls, "Buddy...just stay there. I don't like what i've been tasked to do but I have to do it anyhow."

However, he turns his head towards the room with the computer and sees a cabinet full of DVDs that perks his attention.

"Stay the fuck down now, I need to see what shit you collect on DVD." Bloodjaw growls at Gerald while aiming his pistol at him, which he nods at him in fear, giving Bloodjaw the opportunity to walk over to the room and stand right near the cabinet.

He opens the cabinet and looks through the various DVDs stored in there. Most of them are fairly obscure horror, sci-fi and cult films that simply perk his attention and increase his lack of desire to kill the person as contracted.

"Why the fuck should I kill this person when they have such a great DVD collection?" Bloodjaw continues to ponder, obviously losing complete interest in killing Gerald. He turns around and tells him, "Buddy, i'm not going to kill you, okay?"

"Uh...uh...uh...okay. Why did you come to kill me?" Gerald stammers back as he replies.

"I'm a contractual killer sent to murder you. However, if you know someone else that I can kill and claim it's you then by all means, direct him or her to me." he explains in a sincere tone.

Gerald nervously smiles, stands up and replies, "Um...um...hang on a second.", which he walks over to Berty and stands in front of the TV again.

"Goddamit Gerald, the fuck you want now?" he shouts at him.

* * *

Several minutes later, Bloodjaw exits the house, wearing the mask again, waving at Gerald with one hand and holding the bloodied severed head of Berty in the other, spinal cord still attached and all.

He gets onto his motorcycle, puts the head into the bag the Norio Wakamoto mask was originally in, shoves the spinal cord into it to make it not noticeable, starts the motorcycle up and drives away.

* * *

_Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania_

* * *

In the streets, a slightly nerdy looking guy in a orange blazer, an Apex Twin t-shirt, acid wash jeans, some Nike Kicks and horn rimmed glasses is walking on the street holding a vintage rare keyboards and a Moog synthesizer all while clutching a hold of his car keys.

In the background near a corner, Bloodjaw, once again wearing the Norio Wakamoto mask with passerbys not even noticing him.

* * *

The nerdy guy walks up to his car, unlocks the back doors and carefully puts his newly bought vintage equipment into the backseat. After he gets out, he sees Bloodjaw standing there, which startles him a little.

"Hey dude...what's up with the Wakamoto mask?" he asks him. "you really should've wore a suit while you were at it because the biker getup totally ruins the look."

Bloodjaw, not amused, slowly takes off the mask, revealing his grisly biker helmet and bloodied, skinless and muscleless mouth, which makes the nerdy guy's eyes open wide in utter horror and run away from him. Bloodjaw proceeds to follow him, which he chases him for a minute or two until the man simply stops cold to clench his arms onto his stomach to ease the pain.

Bloodjaw catches up with him, grabs him from behind and pulls out a knife which he puts against his throat. "Why, man..why are you doing this to me?" he asks Bloodjaw.

"No hard feelings, this is just my job and give TheAnimeFreak her regards." he growls at him as he keeps a strong hold onto him.

"What the hell are you...TheAnimeFreak, what the fuck does she has to do with..." the man shouts back, going from confusion to irritation, though his speech is dropped when Bloodjaw digs his knife into his neck, making a nasty geyser of blood spill out as he cuts around the neck and right into the muscles and spine.

After going completely around the man's neck, he lets the body go, puts his right foot onto its back and rips the head off completely, allowing more blood to profusely spray out, yet not a single passerby even directs their attention to the grisly events that have just occurred.

Now having killed this person and pretty much finishing his job, he takes the severed head and his mask back to his motorcycle. He puts the head and the mask into the bag, starts up his bike and once again, drives away.

* * *

"Alright, Little Miss Anime Freak. I've done the job." a returning Bloodjaw tells Krissy after he walked into the headquarters he works for, holding the now bloodstained and smelly paper bag with the severed heads.

"Show me the heads, Mr. Bloodjaw." Krissy replies, demanding him to show her proof of his killings, which he nods back.

He puts the bag on a table and reaches into it. The first thing he pulls out is the Norio Wakamoto mask, which he shrugs it off and tosses it aside. He then pulls out the severed head of the nerdy guy, still looking a bit fresh and puts it onto the table.

"Oh I take it this is that guy who's been the biggest pest in shitting on me on the forum. So obviously looks like him." Krissy tells Bloodjaw while smiling.

"Well I hope it really was him. the location in Pittsburgh was so vague, I might've just killed some other random schmuck." he shrugs to himself. After that, he pulls Berty's head out, which still has the spinal cord attached and has already started to enter rigor mortis and very early stages of decay. He puts the head onto the table, which Krissy plants her hands over her face to keep the horrible smell away.

"Uhhhh...i'll just take it that you killed who you were supposed to kill but for goodness sake, put that wretched thing away!" she yells back, which Bloodjaw nods and puts it away, which makes Krissy move her hands away and sigh in relief.

"So I guess I can say thank you for taking out the detractors for me." she adds.

"Well...you're welcome but I got one last task to do before we depart." Bloodjaw replies.

"and what is that?" she asks him, looking confused, which he proceeds to pull out his pistol and shoot her point blank in the center of her forehead, causing blood to erupt and splatter against the wall she was sitting in front of.

* * *

"Rei, what in the bloody hell are you thinking?" Mari yells at her as she reads the short story her friend has written for DesuLoli. "You write a short story for Kristina and you decide to kill off the Captain Ersatz based on her. Real smart of you."

"Oh shoot. I dunno what I was thinking." Rei replies with a nervous smile and chuckle. "My imagination can run so wild, I forget what i'm supposed to do sometimes."

Mari looks back at her, completely unamused by her friend's response. "Can't you just rewrite the ending of your story so Bloodjaw doesn't kill Krissy?"

"Yes, Mari...i'm doing that right now." Rei sighs back as she highlights the entire part she typed that depicts Bloodjaw murdering Krissy by shooting her in the head with his gun and with a simple tap of the backspace key, deletes them and starts to type out an entirely new sequence as a replacement. She spends a good minute or so of thinking and typing right until she hits a key and shouts, "Done!"

"So what did you do instead?" Mari asks her, looking a bit jaded.

"So basically after Krissy says 'and what is that?', Bloodjaw instead pats her on the back and tells her 'Krissy, my girl...I like to tell you i'll consider you an honorary member of our assassin league, so with that said...want any ice cream?'. I then wrote 'Krissy simply smiles back and follows him as they leave the building, hop onto his motorcycle and drive off to the nearest Baskin Robbins. The End." Rei informs Mari. "Does that sound any better?"

"Well...it is a more upbeat ending. I'll give you that at the very least." Mari sneers back. "So..that does mean you're finally done writing that silly thing."

"Of course I am...which means it's time for me to...PRINT!" Rei happily shouts back as she sets up the printer, puts some printer paper in it, gets the computer ready to print the story and clicks on her mouse to let it start printing.

However, Rei's excitement starts to cool off as she sees her printer is printing the story at a rather unusually slow pace, which the first sheet being printed in a methodical, workman like pace.

"Lemme guess...this is gonna take a while." Mari sneers back, sounding very unenthusiastic about the whole thing.

"I...don't know. Sucks that it is." Rei sighs in response, looking like she's growing a bit bored. "So you want to watch a movie to bid the time?"

"Sure thing." Mari responds as she stands up and stretches her legs. "Surprise me with what you got in store this time."

"Well...there's The Visitor from 1979, which is a really funky American/Italian co-production. Another such co-production is 1981's Nightmare, which is really really nasty. Or maybe we can just watch Tokyo Fist." Rei replies, grabbing said DVDs and showing them to her friend.

Mari nods as she sees the DVDs, but quickly replies, "Tokyo Fist, hands down. Pop it in.", which Rei nods back, takes the DVD over to her DVD player and puts it in, which both girls sit on the couch and watch it together.

* * *

"Shinji...can you change the channel, this stupid movie about this stupid Pumaman is boring me." Asuka shrugs as they sit on a couch of their own. "While you search for something better to watch, i'll ask Misato about something."

"Okay okay." he calmly replies back and starts to channel surf as Asuka gets off the couch and walks over towards Misato who's sitting on a table and typing away on a laptop.

"Ummm...Misato...I have a question to ask you." she asks her.

"Sure thing." Misato replies back. "I've told you before that you can ask me anything you like."

"Well...is it possible that you can retain a friendship despite having wildly split opinions on something?" Asuka adds, sounding very calm and reserved.

"Of course, silly. Just because you strongly disagree with someone doesn't mean you should despise and demonize the person while ending your friendship with them. Only crazy people with issues do that." Misato replies in an honest manner.

"Oh okay. It's just that something that happened early today has been bugging me like crazy, it's just been..." Asuka replies. However, Shinji cuts her off by informing her, "Asuka, you gotta see what's on the TV."

"What is it, baka Shinji?" she asks him, not sounding amused that her roommate has broke into her chat with Misato.

"It's really serious, you need to see this now." Shinji shouts back, still retaining his calm tone somehow.

"Okay, okay i'll see it, you baka." Asuka shouts back in response which she gets back up and sits on the couch again, only to see something on the TV that makes her eyes open wide in utter despair and horror.

"Early today, Kristina Hoffle, better known as the internet pop culture icon 'DesuLoli' went missing and has yet to be found by anyone. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Kristina Hoffle, please contact the Tokyo-3 Police Headquarters as soon as possible." a news reporter on the evening news informs the viewers, all while Asuka watches in sheer horror and quietly mutters, "What have I done?"

* * *

**Chapter 35: The Tragedy of Saying Goodbye.**

* * *

Inside an abandoned warehouse, DesuLoli is tied to a chair, with her arms and body tied to the chair and a towel wrapped around her mouth which acts as a mouth gag.

"Rise and shine, Kristina." Misaki sarcastically tells her hostage, which she slowly opens her eyes and sees her decked out in a sinister looking SEELE issued plug suit that's mostly shiny black and with demonic red indents and streaks in various places. "We got so much to do but in so little time."

DesuLoli, who looks really zoned out and completely lost, simply keeps her head slumped to the side and watches her captor. Misaki then adds, "Well you just wait here while I have a little chat with someone who's been trying to get a hold of me right now.", noting that her cellphone is ringing. She takes it out and asks the person on the other line, "Yeah what is it, Master Lorenz?"

"Misaki...i'm letting you know that you should get yourself in your EVA and get in position with the girl in hand. The angel is on it's way to Tokyo-3 so I need you to get into position so the Second Child can make her way over here while her friends, most importantly, the First Child, will be distracted with fighting Diemael." Keel informs her in a stern tone.

"Okay, I am all up for this fighting, but why can't I personally confront the First myself?" Misaki asks her superior in a whiny tone.

"You may be strong, but you're not an organic being that was meant to live for a prolonged period of time. Your task, as you should remember, is to try to mentally affect the Second Child in hopes of her wanting to give up working for Nerv and eventually sway her away to working with us. The First Child on the other hand, is a whole different can of worms that we're working on. She is very, very important to us at SEELE, so we can't afford you to confront her, especially now." Keel sternly adds.

* * *

Misaki continues to chat with her superior when she feels a weird feeling in her body which immediately makes her tell Keel, "Master Lorenz...i'm starting to feel sick."

"Have you taken your elixir yet or are you nearly out of it?" he asks her.

"Oh shit, my elixir!" Misaki shouts back which she puts her cellphone aside, frantically looks through a bag and pulls out a case. She puts it on the floor next to her cellphone, opens it up and finds a sole half-empty hypodermic needle in it. She picks the cellphone back up and tells Keel, "Master Lorenz, there's just one more left and it's only half-full."

"Don't worry, Misaki...you'll be fine." he replies back, which she nods back and once again puts her cellphone aside.

* * *

With the needle in hand, she pulls a little part of the collar of her plug suit away to reveal a slightly ghastly looking bump that notifies that it's where she injects the elixir into her body. She slowly pushes the needle into the ugly bump and injects the elixir into her body, which she starts to shake a little in a slightly orgasmic manner. She then quickly pulls the needle out, tosses it aside and puts her hands onto a nearby table to let the elixir finish passing through her body and to stop shaking.

* * *

After standing for a good 20 seconds, she stops shaking, tilts her head back and sighs in relief as she pulls the collar of her plug suit back up over the bump and picks her cellphone back up.

"Master Lorenz..i've taken my elixir. If I don't make survive my mission because I didn't have a full dosage, please don't take my death in vain." Misaki informs her superior.

"Yes, Misaki. We at SEELE will not consider your death to be in vain if it happens." he replies in a sincere tone.

"Thanks, Master." she replies back while smiling. "I'll get to my position and do my job."

"That's my girl." Keel responds. "Do your best and i'll either congratulate you or see you on the other side years from now.". He then hangs up, which cues Misaki to hang up her cellphone and put it aside.

* * *

She then refocuses her attention towards DesuLoli, takes out a knife, walks up to her and tells her, "Alright Kristina...it's your time to shine. I'm going to break you free from the ropes so you can play your part in our grand scheme." as she cuts the ropes and lifts her up. She puts her knife aside, sets DesuLoli on the ground and adds, "Stay right here. I'm going to go inside my Evangelion so we can get started.", which she doesn't reply and continues to look glazed and dazed.

Misaki walks away from DesuLoli, walks towards a ladder, climbs it, gets onto a platform that leads to a very roughly made entry plug. She opens it, gets inside, closes the door and activates her EVA, which makes the entry plug shove itself inside.

* * *

In her cockpit, Misaki puts her hands on the controls, twist her lips into a sinister grin and chuckle, "Alright...let's get this over with. Bring on the Second Child!"

* * *

Back at Rei's apartment, she and Mari are sleeping next to each other with the movie now at the end credits. However, loud knocks are heard outside of the apartment which startles both girls, waking them up from their sleep.

"Aw shoot. Who is this?" Rei grumbles as she tries to get herself awake.

"I dunno, it's your apartment so you go see who's at the door." Mari grumbles back, sounding even more tired than her friend.

"Alright Mari...i'll go see who it is." Rei replies, sounding a little more awake now. She gets off the couch and walks towards her apartment room front door. She opens it and is immediately greeted by a slightly agitated looking Agent Smith.

"Ummm sir Agent Smith...what brings you here at this time of the night?" she asks him.

"Is Mari Illustrious Makinami with you?" he replies and asks her, sounding dead serious.

"I'm here, Agent Smith." Mari replies, sounding more awake than she did a few seconds.

"Good...which means I need to take you two to HQ so you can both suit up and get into your Evangelions alongside Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu to confront the angel ASAP." he informs them.

"Oh man." both girls moan in unison. "an angel fight this at this late at night...really?"

"Technically you mean early this morning." Agent Smith dryly replies. "but anyhow you two need to come with me now. No questions."

* * *

They both nod, get their shoes on and start to follow the agent out of the door. However, Rei quickly stops and remembers that she was printing the story for DesuLoli, which she quickly runs to her printer and sees it finished printing as she and Mari fell asleep watching Tokyo Fist. She snatches the papers and resumes following Mari and Agent Smith to out of her apartment.

"Ms. Ayanami...can I ask you why you're taking those papers with you?" Agent Smith asks her.

"Well there's a friend at school and since me and Mari have to go there later in the day, I thought it would be for the better if I took the story I wrote for her with me ahead of time and so I wouldn't forget it in case I didn't have any time to go back home after finishing the mission." Rei explains to him while holding up the papers.

He simply nods back while directing her to follow him and Mari to his car.

* * *

"Pilots...your mission is to eliminate the angel as always." Misato informs the children, who are already in their plug suits and standing in a line shoulder to shoulder to each other. "However, you must be very careful and precise in taking it out because it flies and can easily cause massive damage to your EVAs if you allow it to fly into you."

"So you're saying we have to take the angel out with precision shots?" Asuka asks her. "so what if this angel actually uses its AT field to deflect our firearms?"

"Normally, I would disagree with you, but in this case it's a very good possibility." Rei replies. "We've faced angels that are strangely avert from using their AT fields so it's possible this one will use it's AT field considering that it's supposed to be pretty darn lethal...though speaking from past experience, not using an AT field doesn't always mean less dangerous."

The other EVA pilots nod back as they continue to stand there receiving orders. Mari then looks up and asks, "So...would it be a bad thing if I tried to do a trick shot with my EVA's built in blades?"

"No Mari." Gendo replies who's standing next to his wife and Fuyutsuki. "Once you can position yourself to penetrate the angel's core with one strike then by all means do it. You're fully authorized to do so under my order.". These little comments make Misato cringe a little.

Yui looks at everyone and asks, "Any more questions?", which none of the children reply, though Shiro runs up to her and asks, "Is Jet Alone Prime going along too?"

Gendo looks at him and calmly replies, "Yes Mr. Tokita...your silly mech is acting as support in this mission so get it ready and out with the EVAs."

"Okay man. I'll be right on it." he replies back and runs back to where Jet is stored.

Gendo focuses his attention on the children and tells them, "Now you all get into your EVAs and get into position.", which they nod back and head towards the entryway to their entry plugs.

* * *

Rei, Mari and Shinji walk with each other with Shinji asking, "So Rei...how you're doing?"

"I'm doing okay despite being less than amused with this spur of the moment mission." she replies. "earlier, I was writing a story for DesuLoli as promised so I printed it all out and brought it with me in case we have to go to school immediately after this mission."

"Ummm Rei...about DesuLoli." Shinji quietly replies, sounding rather serious.

"What is it?" she replies back, sounding a little puzzled.

"DesuLoli has been reported missing since after school." he responds in a slightly upset tone.

Rei, at first, looks to be taken aback by this news, but then she lowers her eyebrows and inquires, "...maybe this angel fight could be connected to this. Something sounds totally fishy now that you mention it."

"That's a rather...bizarre assumption." Mari replies. "but at the same time, you could be onto something."

"Yes I could very well be." she replies back to her friend. "but anyway, we gotta get to our EVAs and take down this angel."

Both Mari and Shinji nod back, which all three kids decide to run towards their designated entry plugs and get it started.

* * *

Inside Unit 02, Asuka sits in her darkened cockpit with her hands clamped together and her head leaning against them as if she's praying. She quietly tells herself, "Oh bitte Gott, dass Kristina nicht tot ist. Bitte Gott, sag mir ich nicht vermasseln und führen sie bis zu ihrem Tod mit meinem Mist Aktionen von früher. Bitte Gott, sag mir, dass ich in der Lage sein, sie zu finden und ein Unrecht, tun Sie dies bitte für mich. Ich will nicht traurig sein über mich...bitte?" right until the lights in her cockpit come on, notifying her that she's ready to get into action. She breaks away from her sorrow filled self and chuckles. "Okay you gott damn angel. Bring it!"

* * *

Asuka, alongside her fellow EVA pilots, stand outside in the streets, inside their Evangelions and accompanied by Jet Alone Prime.

"Rei...can you see anything?" Shinji asks her. "I'm still not used to doing this at night."

"I doubt any of us are used to piloting our Evangelions when it's dark." she replies back.

"If you ask me, my Jet Alone Prime Maniacs, I can see things clearly and don't see this angel, brother." Jet adds, still sounding really goofy with his Hulk Hogan derived AI.

However, all of them become alert when they hear a high pitched shriek and the sound of something flying with a high velocity coming their way.

"Alright everyone, get into position. The angel is on it's way and we're going to try to kick it's ass." Rei orders everyone, sounding determined to stop it with her co-pilots.

The EVA pilots make their Evangelions pull out their weapons while Jet takes out his hammer, all anticipating to attack the incoming angel. However, much to their shock, they see a monstrous white winged creature with sharp teeth and mandibles heading their way like a freight train on the loose, making them all dodge out of it's way to avoid getting hit.

"What the bloody hell is that?" Mari shouts out in utter shock. "Who in the bloody world are we able to stop THAT!"

"I dunno." Rei replies, "but I guess that's why we have to be more strategic in this fight."

"Okay." Shinji calmly replies. "I think we'll be able to stop it. We've always been able to stop these angels all the time.

"Bah, I think we should just blitzkrieg it!" Asuka yells back, sounding a little eager and arrogant. "It should be easy to do so."

Everyone else facepalms at Asuka's delusional response and get even more horrified when they see her make her EVA get in front of everyone else, making them all scream, "ASUKA, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!"

"Yes, you bakas. A matter of fact, i'm probably more crazy than any of you will ever be." she sneers back and gets into a position ready to try to take the angel out.

* * *

However, a large video screen that's near one of the buildings turn on, showing the face of Misaki's Evangelion which catches everyone off guard.

"What the hell is that?" Rei stammers back, looking completely confused by what is now going on.

"Hello everyone...and most importantly...the Second Child. Most of you might not be too familiar with my Evangelion but to refresh your memories, my name is Misaki Baisotei. You may recognize me as your classmate in Room 2-A but there's far more to me than meets the eye. You see...i'm actually the Third Child of SEELE. Like you, i'm a child that pilots an Evangelion as you can see, but I work for SEELE, a company that has some...resentment towards your beloved Nerv, thus i'm here as a sort of...ahem...word of warning to your superiors if they keep veering off the wrong path against what my superiors have ordered them to follow." Misaki explains, obviously painting a rather dark, grim and shocking picture with her words and inflection that surprises everyone.

"Okay Misaki...are you and your superiors at SEELE responsible for this particular angel fight?" Rei asks her in a dead serious tone.

"I have no authorization to tell you that, First Child of Nerv." she snaps back. She then adds, "However...you stupid Nervlings, I do have authorization to show you this." which she then makes her EVA lift up DesuLoli to make her visible to her audience.

All of the Nerv EVA pilots widen their eyes and mouths in utter horror as they see their fellow classmate being held captive by this enemy on the screen. Rei being shocked that the person she wrote a story for has not only been found but is a hostage to a even bigger threat than the angel and Asuka in particular fuming mad over what she thinks Misaki has done.

Rather than staying quiet, Asuka shouts out, "Okay Misaki you SEELE bitch, you've taken what i've been worrying about and i'm coming to find you to kick your ass and take her back!"

"Hehehehe, you think you'll be able to find me, Second Child of Nerv...especially when you'll leave your friends behind to rot after the angel tears them apart?" Misaki cackles back, sounding very amused by what the Second Child yelled at her.

Rei makes Unit 00 walk up to Unit 02 and she tells Asuka, "You go ahead and find DesuLoli while I, Shinji, Mari and Jet take care of the angel."

"Okay." Asuka quietly responds, which she then makes Unit 02 walk up to the screen and shouts at Misaki, "Alright...if you can give me a hint where you and DesuLoli are located, i'll show you what i'm made of and trust me...you have no idea that i'm far more capable of kicking your ass than you think."

At first, Misaki stays quiet, then replies, "Enlighten me with your combat skills...but anyhow...i'm in a really big and messy looking warehouse. If you can find the right one, we'll fight mano e mano over the hostage...okay?"

"You bet your ass!" Asuka shouts back, sounding very determined and confident, which she doesn't wait any longer and makes her EVA run away from the site to look for the warehouse Misaki and DesuLoli are in while the live feed Misaki was in cuts out, leaving the screen blank. The rest stay there and huddle together to come up with a plan to take the angel down.

* * *

Unit 02 frantically runs through the street, leaving footprints in the streets. It searches through the various warehouses right until it stops at a rather peculiar one, which right at that moment, various gun turrets pop out of nowhere and start shooting at the Evangelion, forcing Asuka to make her EVA dodge the attacks, pull out its assault rifle and destroy all of the turrets in a mere 20 seconds. Rather than putting the assault rifle away, Unit 02 keeps it out and proceeds to walk towards the warehouse and enter it.

* * *

"Rei, you think this is a good idea?" Mari asks her while she and her EVA with it's blades extracted stands on the ground while the others and Jet Alone Prime hide behind buildings with their rifles in hand.

"I think so. Me, Shinji and Jet will shoot at the angel while you try to get onto it and penetrate the core on it's head with one of your EVA's blades. You got that?" Rei replies, informing and ordering her friend.

"Eh...okay." Mari sneers back, remaining put. From a distance she sees the angel heading their way, making Unit 05 get into a fighting position. As soon as the angel gets close to them, she makes her EVA jump onto it.

* * *

Unit 02, inside the warehouse, slowly walks around with it's assault rifle in hand...right until it's caught off-guard by Misaki's freaky looking makeshift SEELE issued EVA. With a dual bladed spear in hand, it knocks Unit 02 down the ground, proceeding to walk away from the red armor plated EVA to put it's spear aside, take out its own prog knife and pick up DesuLoli to get Asuka's attention.

"DESULOLI!" Asuka shouts as she sees Misaki's EVA hold her classmate against the prog knife.

"I can see you made it, but i'm afraid it's almost too late for your American otaku friend here." Misaki chuckles back. "However..before I kill her, i'll let her say her final words."

"Oh mein Gott ... bitte sag mir nicht, ich bin wirklich seing diese.", Asuka quietly mutters to herself in utter horror.

* * *

Slowly, DesuLoli starts to feel the effects of the drug Misaki injected into her blood stream wear off. Even though her body still feels distant, she feels that she's up in the air and that the restraints and gag are gone. Her vision though is still a kaleidoscope of greatly distorted and sickening swirls and colors. However, one particular blob of flowing red in her sights start to seem familiar to her. She tries her hardest to focus on it as best as she can and it dons on her.

It's Evangelion Unit 02!

Taking a moment to clear her head she asks, as slowly and clearly as she can, "Asuka...is that you?"

Unit 02 reaches it's hand out towards DesuLoli while Asuka replies, "Yes DesuLoli...it's me. I'm sorry for acting like a total ass earlier."

"It's okay, Asuka. I was a total jerk myself. Arguments like that can bring the worst out of us." she replies back while lightly smiling. "If I die now...please tell my friends, my family...and my ex that I love them all."

"Desu...Kristina...don't say things like that. I can save you. Don't believe that junk Misaki told you." Asuka cries back.

"Asuka...I believe you can...I believe you ca..." DesuLoli replies, but in a split second, Misaki makes her EVA cut it's prog knife through DesuLoli's body and with a simple two handed push, her body splits in half with her upper body and lower body flying in different directions, completely horrifying and devastating Asuka in mere seconds.

* * *

"Rei...I have to give you this, but i'm shocked that this bloody damn angel IS using it's AT field." Mari yells out while her EVA hangs onto the angel with a fairly strong grip.

"I know...it's totally ridiculous that of all the angels we've fought, THIS ONE decides to act smart!" Rei yells back, sounding greatly irritated by what's going on.

However...to everyone's shock, Unit 01 comes out of hiding, holding a rocket launcher in hand.

"Shinji...what are you thinking?" Rei yells back in a very concerned tone.

"I think I can help weaken the angel with this." he replies back, still keeping his calm tone which makes Rei roll her eyes in disbelief.

After staying quiet for a few seconds, Rei replies by sighing, "Go ahead Shinji...do it and see if it works. Just try to not hit Mari and Unit 05 by accident."

"I won't hit them. Just the angel." Shinji replies back with a smile which Unit 01 aims the rocket launcher at the angel, turns on the tracker, has it track onto the angel and fires it.

* * *

Unit 02 and Misaki's EVA duke it out, with Unit 02 wielding it's prog knife and Misaki's EVA wielding the dual blade spear.

Although Misaki is the more lethal of the two, Asuka's unhinged anger and rage towards Misaki gives her the upper hand in the fight, coming off as completely ruthless. Both EVAs hit their weapons with very little instances of the weapons actually hitting either EVA.

This intense brawl rages on for a good three minutes, with Misaki's EVA spinning its spear to deflect the prog knife attacks. However, Unit 2 finally smacks the spear away and puts its prog knife away to initiate a hand to hand fight.

Misaki makes her EVA tackle Asuka's and try to pound and ground it's head, yet Unit 02 manages to block the punches and simply deliver a punch of it's own straight into it's face, even going as far to ripping off the red blindfold that covers parts of the EVA's face, revealing a very freaky and revolting visage underneath that makes Asuka all the more irate, culminating in Asuka making Unit 02 push the rival EVA off and grab the spear.

Misaki, shocked that her enemy has bested her, simply makes her EVA back away as she whines out, "Ummm...I apologize for killing your friend, but it was for the better."

"What did you say?" Asuka growls back, making Unit 02 aim the spear towards the enemy EVA's neck.

"Never mind that but..." Misaki replies back but in a frightening split second, Unit 02 stabs and cuts up the enemy EVA in a vicious manner, stopping right when it's red armor and the spear are splattered in blood, tossing said spear aside.

* * *

The enemy EVA slumps down, completely bloodied and damaged beyond recognition while Asuka makes her entry plug pop out. She gets out of her EVA, gets down to the ground and runs to DesuLoli's upper body. When she gets there, she tries her hardest to keep her emotions from running wild yet DesuLoli grabs her by her right leg, coughing out, "I'm so glad to see you one more time, Asuka."

"I know...i'm so sorry that I talked shit about you and your love of Reconstruction. Even though I do not like it, it was rude of me to act that mean to you." Asuka stammers back, on the verge of shedding tears."

"I...I...I just want to tell you that i'll be with you and the others till the end. My...body may not be with you, but my spirit will." DesuLoli continues to cough out, growing paler and sicker looking by every second.

Asuka kneels down, lifts her classmate up while carefully not doing any more damage to the massive exposed spine, flesh and entrails. Blood, guts and spinal fluid continue to seep out of the exposed part where her lower body used to be.

Despite trying her hardest to stay alive, DesuLoli starts to cough up blood and vomit, signaling to Asuka that her time on this planet is almost up.

"Please don't die on me...Kristina. Please don't." Asuka cries to her while slowly starting to shed tears.

"I'm...sorry...Asuka...but...I have...to go. I...see...see...see..." DesuLoli coughs back for one last time until blood, snot and bile spews out of her mouth, eyes, nostrils and ears. What remains of her body starts to violently shake while Asuka tries to help her but in a split second, she stops still.

Kristina "DesuLoli" Hoffle, age 17, has died in Asuka's arms. Forevermore.

* * *

From a distance, the entry plug of Misaki's EVA pops out and opens with lots of steam and smoke blazing out of it. Misaki climbs out of it, coughing as well. She gets down to the ground and approaches Asuka, despite vomiting blood, bile, mucus and pus. She stops, pulls the collar of her plug suit away and sees the bump now completely open and infected looking, spewing out bloodied and gunky pus much to her horror. However, she discards it and resumes walking towards Asuka.

"Asuka...you fucking Germanic cunt...I cannot believe you...managed to bring me down like this. I'm going to kill you now, you bitch and if I die, I assure you my fellow SEELE children and SEELE themselves will be out to get you." Misaki screams out, despite her voice starting to sound scratchy and a bit incomprehensible.

"Not on my watch, scheißkerl!" Asuka screams out after standing back up and simply kicks Misaki in the kick but much to her horror, she instead causes her foe's head to crumble and splatter away in half.

What's left of Misaki's head starts to spray out a massive geyser of blood, pus and bile while her body starts to violently vibrate. Once it stops spewing out wretched bodily fluids, it drops suddenly to the ground, motionless, with urine, excrement and pus pouring out of the vagina and anus, seeping through the plug suit and creeping onto the floor.

Staring at complete disbelief, Asuka simply takes a few steps back and tries to comprehend what just happened.

* * *

Despite Unit 01 shooting the rocket, it continues to follow the angel, which Unit 05 is still hanging onto. However, Mari manages to get her EVA close enough to the core and stabs it, making the angel spin around and contort in pain.

"Mari...make you EVA jump off the angel. The rocket cannot follow it any longer!" Rei screams at her.

"Okay, Rei. Will do", she replies back, making her EVA jump off and land on the ground.

The angel continues to spin around like a total spaz right until the rocket finally reaches it. It widens its eyes in shock when it sees the rocket and without any notice, the rocket hits the angel, blowing it up.

"Target neutralized." Maya tells the pilots. "Mission accomplished."

* * *

The pilots and Jet Alone Prime celebrate in their success, yet Asuka then breaks through the feed, informing everyone, "Guys...I have some good news...and some very bad news."

"What's wrong?" Misato asks her. "First...tell us the good news."

"I have neutralized Misaki Baisotei and her Evangelion." Asuka quietly replies.

"Okay...so what's the bad news, then?" Yui asks her.

"Kristina Hoffle...has been murdered. Murdered in front of my eyes." Asuka adds while breaking into tears. "I'm sorry Rei...but she cannot read your story now. I'm sorry."

Rei's eyes start to get teary too which she slumps her head down towards her controls, totally unable to comprehend the news she has received.

Rather than saying anything, she instead bursts into tears and cries to herself inside her cockpit over the news she has received regarding her now-deceases fellow classmate she wrote a story for.


	37. Chapter 36: The Persistence of Loss

**Chapter 36: The Persistence of Loss**

* * *

"We are all gathered here today to remember the life of one Kristina Hoffle." a thin yet tall looking preacher informs the mourners on the grave site. Next to him is a beautifully designed open casket with flowers surrounding it and a framed photograph of said deceased person, Kristina Hoffle with her fellow deceased friend Jarvis Mendes. Inside the casket, Kristina's cadaver, dressed up in a eloquent gown, lays with her favorite stuffed doll Doremon and the story her classmate back in Tokyo-3 Rei Ayanami wrote for her. An American flag also swings behind the preacher as he continues to go through the funeral proceeds and last rites.

Among the mourners is a large and very high tech camcorder hooked up to a somewhat big cable box that has a satellite attached to it.

* * *

In a darkened room within an auditorium in the school, the entirety of Room 2-A watch the funeral as it's projected on the wall for them to see. Rei, standing by Mari, Shinji, Toji, Kensuke and Claire Phoenix, sheds a few tears. Claire in particular is heavily affected by her friend's passing.

* * *

Notably absent from the crowd is Asuka, who is not watching the service but rather is outside the school, sitting on a swing and looking deadly depressed. Her normally well groomed hair looks rather unkempt and messy, as well as sweat dripping off of her skin.

* * *

At the funeral, an older woman stands by a man in a black business suit wearing shades, turns her head towards him and asks, "Sir...what's the point of this live feed crap at my daughter's funeral?"

He turns his head back and replies, "Your daughter made some friends back in Japan so I was ordered to set up a live feed of her funeral for them."

The woman rolls her eyes back and replies, "So that's why there was that order to bury this story by my daughter's side."

"Exactly." the man replies back, which he pulls a cigarette out, lights it up and puts it into his mouth, though the woman smacks it out, grumbling, "Don't you dare smoke at my daughter's funeral.".

* * *

Several hours later, Rei walks out a record shop with a bag in her hand alongside her purse. She walks towards the public bathroom, enters the women's room and walks into one of the stalls, shutting the door behind her. Inside, she hangs her leather jacket up, sets the purse aside, shuts the toilet lid, sets the bag down, pulls off Dir En Grey shirt, revealing that she's wearing a black velvet bra. She sets the shirt aside, reaches into the bag, pulls out a Brutality "Screams of Anguish" shirt she just bought and puts it on. She puts the Dir En Grey shirt into the bag, puts her leather jacket back on, shoves the bag into her left jacket pocket, picks her purse up, opens the stall door and leaves.

* * *

Back on the streets, Rei walks around, noticing that the atmosphere is draped in utter gloom and despair after the horrific events that took place the week before. Although she continues to walk around, she passes by a HMV. Trying to keep her mind off the loss of DesuLoli, she ends up walking into there, finding herself swarmed in an abundance of people and neon lights.

She walks through the store, not paying much attention to everyone else and walks to the Foreign section of the movies. She looks through the American Horror Films section, trying to score a copy of Candyman and The New York Ripper to add to her collection. However, her attention is distracted when she catches a glimpse of a suave looking Caucasian guy in a suit with horn rimmed glasses browsing through the Anime section.

Curious to see what's his deal, she quickly snatches a copy of Candyman she spots, forgets about looking for New York Ripper and walks to the Anime section. She looks through the section, trying her hardest to not attract any attention from the guy while looking but she hears a voice asking her, "Hey babe!"

Upon hearing the voice, her eyes bug out a little and subsequently turns around. To her surprise, she sees the suave guy looking at her and asks, "Ummm...I hope you normally don't get this, but is that your real hair color?"

At first, a sensation of annoyance and irritation boils through her body after hearing this dude ask something too many people asked her throughout her life, but she simply sets it aside and replies, "By a matter of fact, dude...it is.", looking a bit cheeky.

"Huh...well that's a first." the guy replies. As he examines Rei a bit further, he notices her leather jacket and t-shirt, telling himself, "Fuck, she's a metal head, yet she's so...exotic...and so not Asian looking...bah, Dame..just follow your hard on and you...no wait I can't. Not after what happened that lead me to come here...but she's sooo hot...eh fuck it Dame, just go with the flow.", then adds, "So ma'am...what's your name?"

Rei cocks her head to the left, looking a bit puzzled on why this dude's suddenly taking a real interest in her, then replies, "Well dude...my name's Rei Ayanami. How about you. What is your name, man?"

The guy clears his throat, adjusts his glasses and replies back, "Name's Damien Shez, Rei.". He looks down, sees the DVD in Rei's hand, tells himself, "Oh she's a horror film junkie too. Well...eh okay.", looks into her eyes and asks, "So you like to go out for some coffee?"

Rei rolls her eyes, looks back at Damien and replies, "Well there's a Shokudo around here...but can you help me find the other movie i'm looking for?"

He shrugs a little, replies back, "Eh okay ma'am." and accompanies Rei as she walks back to the American Horror Movies section.

"So what's this movie you're looking for, Ms. Ayanami?" Damien asks her while browsing the movies and cringing at the films he finds. He remarks to himself, "These films are so below my deliciously high standards.

"The New York Ripper.", Rei replies while browsing. "It's an allegedly violent as all hell film from the early 80s by the late Lucio Fulci. Are you familiar with his work?"

"Yeah Rei, I am." Damien replies back. He leans his head down, tells himself, "and I think he's a piece of shit no good director."

"Well I think he's an okay director, but i'm more partial to Dario Argento myself." Rei responds while continuing to browse the DVDs.

"Uh that's a slight step up, but Argento's no Greenaway or Truffaut." Damien remarks to himself, still unimpressed by what he considers to be a poor taste in films Rei has.

Rei keeps looking through the movies, finds New York Ripper but makes an even bigger find that greatly surprises her.

"Oh crap..Ms. 45!" Rei shouts after she spots it in the bin and snatches it. "I say we're done her, Damien, so let's check out and get us some coffee."

"Yeah." he nods back, though looks a bit sullen as he stands there and follows her to the cash register.

* * *

"So...your parents claim that you look that way because your father worked in a power plant of some sort?" Damien replies as he sits with Rei inside the Shokudo coffee shop she mentioned earlier, drinking the best coffee in Japan.

"Yuppers." Rei quickly replies back, then downs a swig of coffee.

"Well if you ask me, Rei...i'm afraid your old folks are filthy liars." Damien bluntly chuckles back. "There's noooo way in hell your parents, whom you claim look like any other Japanese middle aged couple, could produce such a pale ass, blue haired non-Asian looking beauty like you. I bet by my ball sack and complete Stanley Kubrick Blu-Ray collection...Fear and Desire and Day of the Fight included...that you were adopted. Clear and simple."

"Pffft, I don't think that's...well...maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong." Rei replies. "Now it's my turn..Mr. American Hipster...why were you looking at the Anime section when according to some shit websites like Know Your Meme, Oh Internet and the delightfully vulgar Encyclopedia Dramatica...your types DESPISE Anime."

"Well...ummmm...it's part of the reason why I visited Japan in the first place, darling." he replies back, sighing for a little bit. "My ex girlfriend...well...I should mean late ex girlfriend was a big internet personality that decided to take a trip here...only for her to suddenly wind up dead before I knew it."

As she hears Damien talk, her eyes bug out a little as what he describes strongly resembles her now deceased friend. She looks right into his eyes and asks him, "Hey man...you knew DesuLoli?"

"DesuLoli...oh wait a second. You mean Kristina?" Damien replies, sounding a bit confused until something dons on him. He looks straight into her eyes and mutters, "Aren't you that one girl Kristina mentioned that night she called me before her untimely death?"

"Wait I thought you two split up if you say you were her ex-boyfriend?" Rei asks him, sounding a little puzzled by the concept of split up lovers still seeing communicating with each other.

"The thing is, Rei...why do I even have to tell you this?" Damien yells at her.

"Dude, I have to go back home. I'll see you around town if you're staying for a bit." Rei stammers back and abruptly leaves the coffee shop, taking her leather jacket and bag of DVDs with her.

* * *

Back on the streets, Rei tries her best to power walk away from the coffee stop and focus on getting back home. She passes by a stoic looking woman with a green hoodie and a pink tank top and accidentally bumps into a redhead woman in a white dress and a sun hat. The woman looks at Rei as she passes by and calmly shouts, "Hey ma'am...might be careful the next time you're public.". However, Rei ignores her as she focuses on getting to the subway.

* * *

After entering the subway, Rei sits down on one of the booths next to a blonde woman. From what she can tell, the woman's shirt reads "My Saber Is Better Than Yours!", but she doesn't get that good of a look of the rest of her attire. Rei remains sitting next to her though she notices the woman remarks, "I need to tell Emiya-kun to stop doing anal with me. My ass hurts too much.", which she rolls her eyes a little but keeps to herself.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Rei arrives at her apartment. She takes her shoes and socks off, puts them aside, hangs her leather jacket up and plops down onto her couch. She lays down, looking a bit exhausted from the emotional drain from her encounter with Damien. She pulls the DVDs she bought out of the bag and examines them, debating on which one she should watch. However, she hears a knock on her door, which she gets up, shouts out, "Hang on a second.", gets up and opens the door.

Not necessarily surprised, she's greeted by Mari, who's hair is down and is wearing a plain green T-shirt and jeans. She asks, "So Rei...wha'cha up to?"

"Not much except i'm going to watch a movie I bought at HMV...but I dunno which one I should watch first." Rei replies. "Maybe you could help me out."

"Yeah..if you're going to watch a movie, I like to join." Mari replies back with a smirk on her face. "So what new additions you got to choose from?"

"Well...I bought Candyman, The New York Ripper and Ms. 45." Rei responds while holding said movies up to show her friend.

"Hmmmmm..." Mari ponders. She looks at all three movies, but nods at one of them and adds, "Candyman. No question about it. I've been wanting to check it out for a while now."

"Ah okay." Rei responds while putting the other movies aside. "So Candyman it is."

* * *

While Rei goes set the movie up, Mari sits on the couch, stretching her neck until she hears a knock at the door, which slightly startles her. She looks at her friend and asks, "Rei...should I answer the door?"

"Yes please." Rei replies, sounding slightly annoyed.

Mari nods back, stands up and walks towards the door. She opens it and to her surprise, is greeted by Asuka of all people. She turns her head towards Rei and shouts, "Hey...Asuka's here."

"Really. What does she want?" she shouts back while still setting the movie up.

Mari turns her head back towards Asuka and asks her, "So what brings ya here?"

"I'm feeling lonely." she replies. "Shinji's not feeling too good, Misato's at HQ and Hikari...I honestly have no clue what she's up to, aside from that she wouldn't answer her phone so I decided to see what you were up to...and since you weren't home, I ended up walking over her...so what you two are up to?"

"Me and Rei are about to watch a movie so if you want to join on in, you'll have to ask her yourself." Mari shrugs back. "I personally don't mind."

Asuka rolls her eyes, takes her shoes and socks off and walks into Rei's apartment. She approaches her and asks, "Hey Rei...mind if I watch the movie with you two?"

She turns around, looks into Asuka's eyes and quickly replies, "Sure thing. I hope you don't mind horror movies, though."

"Eh it doesn't matter what you guys watch as long as it's not something too much for me." Asuka replies back and sits down on the couch, taking the right seat. Mari takes the middle set and then Rei, after finally starting the movie, takes the left seat.

* * *

An half an hour in, all three girls are both mesmerized and disturbed by the surrealist and dreamlike nature of the movie. The whole Candyman myth in particular, with it's allusions to the Bloody Mary urban legend, mystifies Asuka, but as she watches it, she zones out a little and remembers how much of a bitch she was to DesuLoli before her untimely death, but when her imagination gets the better of her with DesuLoli becoming more malicious, she flinches back a little which draws the attention of her fellow EVA pilots.

"Asuka, are you alright?" Mari asks her, sounding a little worried. "I noticed that you didn't watch the funeral service. You're still feeling like crap with what happened to DesuLoli?"

"Yeah...yeah..." Asuka replies back, looking annoyed and very hesitant to dwell on it. "Can we just focus on the movie?"

Rei and Mari simply nod back and focus on watching Candyman.

* * *

By 11 PM, the movie has ended and all three girls simply stare at the TV screen, not quite sure of what they just watched. Asuka looks at Rei and calmly tells her, "Well I gotta get back home. I'll see you in school or HQ tomorrow." as she puts her shoes and socks back on.

"Alright. Same to you." Rei replies back as she watches Asuka leave the apartment. Mari turns towards her as she gets her own shoes and socks on and tells her, "In all honesty, I say it exceeded my expectations, but with that said I got to get to my gaff. I'm really clapped out now so i'll see ya later."

Rei looks back, smiles at her friend and replies. "Same to you. I need to get some sleep."

"Cheerio, Rei!" Mari shouts at her friend as she leaves the apartment and shuts the door.

"Cheerio to you too, ya silly Brit." Rei replies, despite Mari having already left. She tells herself, "One of these days, she's gonna tell me what half of the shit she says actually means." while getting up, stretching her body, putting the DVD back away, turning off her TV and DVD player, walking over to her PC and turning it on. She walks around her apartment, taking off her clothes and getting into her pajamas while her PC boots up. She brushes her teeth, washes her face and whatnot all while biding time for her PC to finish booting up until she finishes that up, walks back into the living room and sees the PC is ready for her to use.

Not waiting any longer, she sits on the chair, grabs the mouse, clicks on "Firefox" and waits for it to load up to her home page at Yahoo. She accesses her email, looks through it and finds a peculiar new one sent by a user named "Do_Know_The_Evil97865." entitled "Open This!".

Not expecting much, she opens the email and sees a link to a video, which she immediately opens it up. The entire browser goes dark and a video plays. At first it's nothing of interest aside from the ominous ambient sounds at the start, but then graphic images of a car accident and a burnt body show up, making Rei's eyes bug out and her jaw drop in utter shock and horror.

The video goes on for a little longer, at the very end, a very fuzzy and hard to glance at image of what appears to resemble the helmet of that mysterious person she caught a glimpse of on her birthday pops up, ending the video. Stunned and repulsed, Rei shuts her computer off, stands up, slowly walks to her bed, plops onto it and lays down with the lights on, utterly disturbed out of her mind until her eyes shut, falling asleep in the process.

* * *

Still having her eyes shut, she opens them only to find herself sitting on a wooden chair and in the middle of nowhere. Puzzled by this latest development, she stands up and walks through the atmospheric landscape until she's greeted by a svelte man in a suit and white gloves. He opens his mouth and talks to her, but she can't hear anything but the wind. He directs her to follow him to a table of sorts with a large, surrealistic looking office chair. The person turns the chair around, revealing to be a woman that strongly resembles the disfigured person in that video Rei saw, as well as the infamous "Burnt Lady Down the Street" that she heard kidnapped Mari and DesuLoli until Agent Will and Agent Smith took care of her.

Rei backs away from the woman as she walks towards her. However, she ends up tripping and falling into a dark abyss behind her, screaming as she falls and descends into the great unknown.

* * *

Suddenly, she feels like she's laying down on a very cold surface...and her body is exposed. She opens her eyes up to see what's going on, only to find herself strapped to a steel table in a very dark room, completely naked.

Trying to figure out a way to get out of this jam, she pulls her arms to see if she can free herself, but notices that they're tightly locked. However, she hears a metal door opening and looks around to see who came in. When she gets a glimpse of who it is, her eyes widen in horror.

It's that mysterious person in the cape and armor.

It walks up to Rei, looks at her and growls, "Hello Ms. Ayanami. I know you don't know who I am...but I know who you are."

Rather than immediately replying, she spits on the person's helmet and shouts, "Let me free you monster!"

"Sorry kid, I can't do that." the person growls back. "We got to open you first."

"Open me up. What the hell do you mean?" Rei yells back, sounding deeply confused by what the person said.

"You'll see, Ms. Ayanami." the person growls back. He turns around and shouts, "Bianca...chop chop. We got ourselves a blue haired teenager to examine.", only to walk away and in his place comes that same woman from earlier, except holding a chainsaw in her hands.

Rei sways her head back and forth in sheer terror as the woman brings the saw to her. She leans the blade towards her genital regions which causes Rei to squirm. Without warning, she starts the saw, making her scream in utter horror...only to wake up in her bed, drenched in sweat.

* * *

Panting heavily, she looks around her apartment and notices that the lights are still on and that it's now two in the morning. She stands up, walks around, turns off the lights and plops back down onto her bed to sleep again.

* * *

"Man, why are all of the new shows on BBC 4 on a break?" Mari, now in her pajamas, grumbles as she watches her TV. "I think I should turn my telly off and go to sleep.". She pulls out her remote, turns the TV off, takes her glasses off, sets them aside, turns the light off and lays down on her bed, falling asleep.

* * *

The next day, she comes back from school and walks into the kitchen. She sets her purse aside, opens up a cupboard and takes out a blender. She sets it on the table and walks to another cupboard to gets some stuff out to make a milkshake.

However, she hears a voice tell her, "Hey...let's be friends.", which confuses her a little. She turns around and to her horror, sees a child version of herself that has cat girl aspects to it.

"What in the bloody world are you?" Mari shouts back as she sees it.

"I'm you!" it replies back in utter glee, which completely horrifies Mari to the point that she tries to catch it, only to fail as it runs around. She looks around the kitchen in various corners to see if she can catch it, growling, "Where are you, ya little piece of kitty bollocks?"

"Over here!" it shots, holding a cookie jar in it hands. Mari turns around and gets it thrown onto her face. She clenches her right hand in anger, grabs the catgirl loli doppelganger of her and walks towards the blender, growling, "You shouldn't exist you horrific abomination!".

She puts it into the blender, shuts the top tight, holding it into place and starts the blender, grinding and mashing the catgirl into giblets of gore, entrails, blood and bone particles. Once it appears to have been grinded up into a shapeless form, she turns it off and opens it up, laughing and adds, "She I showed ya, you bloody cunt!". However, the gory remains wrap around her neck, trying to drag her down towards the blades of the blender.

Mari puts her hands on the blender to make it harder for the tentacles to drag her down, but more spring out and grab a hold of her, dragging her face towards the blender. Once it's close to it, the tentacles spring out to the on/off button and turn it on, completely reducing Mari's face into a bloody mess...and then she wakes up, screaming in her room.

She looks around that she's still in her room. To her relief, she sighs, plops back down to her bed and grumbles, "Bloody fuckin' loli catgirls."

* * *

"Hey Asuka...so I heard you got a boyfriend now. What's his name?" Hikari asks her on the other end of the line.

"Oh he's that American dude that just transferred here. His name's Trent Bolton if you don't remember." she replies back as she sits on a couch.

"Oh yeah, him." Hikari replies back. "Guy's definitely a hottie."

"Yeah he's a real 100% American hunk." Asuka responds as she slides her other hand to her genital regions.

"Asuka baby, do you want to hear a story?" Trent asks her in another room.

"Hang on a second, Trenty. Gotta hang up the phone first." Asuka replies. She talks into the phone and tells Hikari, "Hey I gotta go. My boyfriend wants to tell me a 'story', so i'll see ya at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, same to you. Bye." Hikari replies back and hangs up her phone.

Asuka puts her phone away and awaits Trent to come to the couch. He walks over there, sits down and asks her, "Hey, did you ever hear of that urban legend of that one American Otaku that if you say her name eight times in a darkened room, she'll appear out of nowhere?"

"Not that i'm aware of." Asuka replies. "What's her name?"

"Well her name is Kristina, but that won't work if you say that name eight times. No...you have to say DesuLoli eight times in order for her to come." Trent explains, obviously hamming it up a little.

Asuka's eye open wide after she hears that name and replies, "Trent...turn the lights off. I need to apologize to her.", which he nods back and turns them off.

With the lights off, Asuka stands up and says, "DesuLoli. DesuLoli. DesuLoli. DesuLoli. DesuLoli. DesuLoli. DesuLoli...", but when she tries to get to saying it for an eighth time, Trent plants his right hand over her mouth and tells her, "Please don't say it one more time. I'm scared shitless!".

She pushes her away and snarls, "Dammit, baka Trent. Lemme say it one more time. I need closure on this.". She then finally says "DesuLoli" for one last time and at first, it seems like nothing has happened, but then Trent feels a sharp pain in his back which out of nowhere, the blade of a sword penetrates through his chest and his body is thrown to the other side of the room.

Terrified out of her mind, Asuka backs away and sees a very pale and gaunt looking DesuLoli in front on her, covered in blood. She tells her in a monotonous tone, "I know you want to apologize to me, but that's too late for you to do for me."

"Come on, DesuLoli. Please accept my forgiveness." she whimpers back, but DesuLoli simply shakes her head back and forth and raises her sword.

After DesuLoli swings it down, decapitating Asuka's head, she wakes up in her bed, horrified and haunted by the dream she had. She looks around, finds her doll, grabs it and holds it against her breasts, whispering, "Bitte Gott ... vergib mir die Scheiße habe ich DesuLoli. Bitte vergib mir, ich will nicht von ihr heimgesucht mehr sein. Bitte Gott ... bitte ficken vergib mir meine Seele für meine eigene Rettung. Ich will nicht die Schuldigen nicht mehr spüren...".


	38. Chapter 37: Stranger in Town

**Chapter 37: Stranger in Town**

* * *

"You know...after watching Candyman last night, I had a hell of a dream." Mari tells her friend Rei as they, alongside Shinji, walk to school.

"So did I." Rei replies. "but it had nothing to do with the movie, but rather this bizarre email I got. Trust me, Mari...it was freaky."

"Sorry I didn't show up." Shinji tells his friends. "I fell ill after the service so I couldn't come by and visit."

"That's okay." Rei responds and pats him on the head. "The movie we watched probably would've aggravated your condition and put you in an even worse mood than you already were in."

"Horror films don't bother me too much." Shinji calmly replies. "I still feel a little groggy but i'm well enough to make it through the day."

"That's nice to..." Mari replies back, but before anyone else could add anything, they hear a voice calmly ask them, "Hey guys. Can you help me get to school?"

The group turns around and see a red haired girl in the standard issue school uniform standing. While the others try to reply, Rei's eyes wide as she notices that she bumped into her the day before. She looks at her and replies, "Oh hey I didn't know you're new here. Sorry about last night, I was...in a bit of a rush."

"Oh it's not a big deal...errmm...what's your name now, friend?" the girl replies and asks her, sticking her right arm out in hopes for a handshake.

Rei shifts her eyes a little, looks right into the girl's eyes, shakes her hand and replies back, "Rei. Rei Ayanami.". She turns her arm, points her finger at her friends and adds, "and these are my friends Mari Makinami and Shinji".

"Salutations, friend." Mari adds and shakes the girl's hand.

Shinji walks up to the girl, greets her and tells her, "Hi. Nice to meet you."

The girl curtsies and calmly replies with a sense of elegance, "Nice to meet you all. I'm Mana Kirishima. I just moved here yesterday so I haven't got the chance to talk to anyone."

"Yeah I know how it feels, Mana." Rei replies back. "The first few days can be a little rough when you just moved it. Just take my word for it, I moved here back in December and despite feeling out of my element, I made a few friends and well...here I am."

Mana chuckles back and responds, "Well I guess I can hang out with you all during lunchtime, maybe even try and get acquainted with the rest of my new classmates."

Rei looks around and tells everyone, "All right we gotta get to school. We don't want to be late now.". She looks at Mana and adds, "Especially you." who simply smiles and nods back.

The rest of the group nod back and resume walking to school, only now with new classmate Mana a part of them.

* * *

Ten minutes later, the group arrives at their school. Mana looks around her surroundings with a gleeful smile on her face. She asks Rei, "So this is the school i'll be attending. Can you help me get to room 2-A?"

"That's where the rest of us attend." Rei replies. "You're in good hands so let's not dilly dally and get in class."

"Right." Mana replies back. The others nod back and head to class.

* * *

"Alright everyone. Please stand." Hikari orders her classmates. She directs Mana to stand by her, which she then adds, "Everyone I like you to meet our new new new classmate Mana Kirishima."

"Hikari, I hope this one doesn't die on us like Kristina and Misaki did." a random classmate shouts back in a bitter yet sarcastic tone.

"Calm down, Sho." she replies back. She turns her attention back to Mana and adds," Anyways...why not you go introduce yourself to us?"

She smiles back, walks closer to the seats and tells everyone, "Well...I never really got to talk with anyone else at my previous schools so this is quite a major change of pace for me so I hope i'll get to chat with you all during lunch time and after school.".

Mana then curtsies to her classmates, looks at the teacher and asks him, "So where can I sit?"

"Ummmm...just take any open seat you see." he replies back.

Mana walks away from Hikari and the table and starts looking for a seat to take for her own. She first walks towards the seat that previously belonged to Kristina Hoffle but Claire turns her head and sneers, "Don't sit here. I need it empty to remind me of how my I miss my friend." which Mana quietly backs off and continues to look around. She walks up to the seat that once belonged to Misaki but decides not to choose it out of the assumption that it has some "bad vibes" about it. Ultimately, she ends up choosing a seat on the other side of the class opposite of where Rei sits.

After she sits down, a boy next to him looks at her and asks, "Hey baby...wanna go for a bite after school?".

"Maybe another time." she replies. "I have a lot of things to introduce myself to already."

* * *

"So where did you move from?" Toji asks Mana as they, along with Rei, Mari, Shinji and Kensuke, sit at a table during lunch.

"Kyoto." she responds in a calm tone. "My father works for Sumitomo Trust and Banking as a technician in the software management department, but recently his employer was told to relocate here due to a severe decline of human resources at the Kyoto branch."

"How peculiar." Mari replies. "So what does your mum do for a living since you're giving us a mouthful of what I would personally consider to be rather personal information."

"Oh my mother just does the usual cooking and housekeeping duties." Mana replies back. "She doesn't have a job since my dad is the one who supports us so she just stays home all day except when we need more groceries for around the house."

Mari rolls her eyes in annoyance and pipes back, "That's nice and all but I think you're still dropping too much personal information."

Mana slumps her head down in disappointment and quietly replies, "I'm sorry if i'm annoying you by saying too much. Mom and dad told me to always be honest and never tell a lie. I come from a very...honest family so I apologize."

Rei walks to her side and sits aside from her. She pats her on the back and tells her, "It's okay with me. I have blurted out a few things when I shouldn't have myself on a few occasions.". She looks back at Mari and rolls her eyes at Mari's harshness, which she shrugs back.

The whole crew then hear the bell ring which notifies them to get back to class.

* * *

While everyone stands up and heads back to room 2-A, Rei walks up to Mari and asks her, "Dammit why are you being so harsh to the new kid?"

"Rei my chap, as much as I want to make new friends as the next person, this Mana gal reeks of...I dunno...something wholly fabricated. Very fake if you ask me."

"So you're implying that Mana is not to be trusted according to some hunch you have?" Rei replies back, sounding rather puzzled by her friend's accusation.

"Well..." Mari replies back with a faint chuckle as she scratches her back and looks a bit embarrassed. "...i'm not too...ummmm...sure but it's just a gut feeling I have. However...that won't mean I can't be friendly with her ever."

"Okay then." Rei responds. "Just try and apologize to her when you get the chance, okay?" which her friend nods back. They both then continue walking back to class without bickering any further.

* * *

Back at HQ, Gendo sits on his desk. His cellphone rings which makes her quip, "Oh man what is it now?", only to answer it. "Hello?" he asks on the other end."

"So I guess you're still doing the same old shit." a familiar guttural synthetic growl greets him.

"Dammit. Why did you have to call me now..especially at this time!" Gendo yells back in utter disapproval.

"What's wrong man. Seele getting your underwear in a knot?" the Dark One quips back.

"No it's not Seele and it's certainly not my underwear." he replies. "It's that i'm completely out of goddamn pants at the moment and it's pissing me off dearly."

"Why's that. Soiled too many up during all that time you sit in that silly Commander pose?" the Dark One sneers back with a very dry tone.

"No. Yui decided that all of my pants needed to be taken to the dry cleaners only to not leave me with a single pair I could wear so I have to sit my ass here, concealing my friggin' boxers with this friggin' table." Gendo yells back, sounding greatly agitated by this.

"Well that's a damn shame." the Dark One quips. "Anyhow, I was just calling in to see if there was any important updates I need to know."

"Not at the moment." Gendo replies back. However, before he could add any more to the conversation, the phone hangs up. "You know...i'm starting to tire of his antics."

* * *

Before he could do anything else, the phone rings again, causing him to pick the phone back up in pure instinct.

"Who is this?" Gendo asks the person on the other end of the line.

"Commander Ikari, you sound a little flustered. Is something eating at you at the cost of your mission?" the person on the other end replies.

"Oh Keel, it's just you." Gendo sighs in relief. "I thought it was gonna be someone else."

"Why in world you would think something like that? Keel replies back in a rather puzzled way.

"Well..." Gendo replies, which he thinks for a few seconds to think up of a fib then adds, "I've been receiving prank calls from some punks the last few days. Nothing real serious."

"If so...then okay. Whatever." Keel sneers back. "However, the reason I called is that there's another angel on the way.

"Ok Keel. What shall we keep an eye out for regarding this particular angel?" he asks him.

"That's a good question because as far as I know, this angel likes to play it...quiet."

"Excuse me?" Gendo snaps back. "What kind of a silly, cryptic message is that?"

"That's all I can tell you. I need to get some errands done." Keel coldly replies, only to hang up the phone.

"Old bastard." Gendo sneers to himself, obviously expressing a strong degree of contempt towards the leader of SEELE.

* * *

Keel, after finishing his phone call to Gendo, grabs his cane, stands up and grumbles, "I need a drink.". He looks at Nigel, who's casually sitting on a chair and asks him, "Can you hand me a glass and my bottles of scotch and brandy?". However, he notices that his long time friend is sound asleep.

"Mr. Lorenz, didn't you ask for these things?" a calm and tender voice asks him.

He turns around and sees a teenage girl with glasses, long black hair, a beauty mark under the left side of her lower lip and a blue and white polka dot dress, coyly smiling at him and holding the bottles he asked for and a glass filled with ice.

"Mayumi, you didn't have to bring these things to me dear." Keel calmly replies back in a very surprised and humbled tone.

"It's no problem Mr. Lorenz, i'm just trying to help around with others. Especially you and Kaworu-kun." Mayumi quietly responds.

Keel pats Mayumi's left shoulder, smiles back and her and replies, "Well, regardless, I greatly appreciate you helping me out in my twilight years.". He then adds, "Besides...can you help escort me to my living quarters?"

"Yes sir." Mayumi responds. She then walks over towards Keel's left arm, which he puts it over her body, and helps him out walk to his own private room deep within SEELE HQ. Since she has stuff in her arms, Keel opens the door instead and they continue to walk into the room together. Once they reach a desk, Keel hangs onto his cane and eases himself down into it. Mayumi then proceeds to put the requested items down onto the desk.

"Thank you very much Mayumi. Now you go have some fun." Keel calmly thanks her which she simply replies by bowing down and giving him a curtsy. She then walks out of the room, leaving the old man alone as he starts making himself the rather unusual alcohol mix.

* * *

On the streets, Mana is walking home. She passes by many other people and simply smiles and waves back at them. However, she starts seeing people running away in absolute panic, with some screaming at her, "Run away, girl!"

She hears that and proceeds to turn around and, to her shock, sees a large, pearl white object floating in front of her. Knowing she has no other choice, she kneels down and trembles in fear at the sight of the object. However, to her her surprise the object casually flows away from her, leaving her alone in the middle of the street.

* * *

"Mari, I still do not get why you acted all crazy and paranoid to the new girl." Rei questions her, still being quite confused by her actions.

"We already talked about this Rei." Mari dryly replies. "I just have a gut feeling about her that rubs me the wrong way."

"Oh well...i'm just having a crap day today." Rei responds. "The hard drive of my PS3 broke, my CD player broke, my friggin' headphones broke and most of all, I have to replace it all with my leftover birthday money."

"Oh man that bites utter bollocks." Mari nods back.

"Yeah I know. It's utter crap that this all happened in such a short amount of time but I can survive through it." Rei replies in a marginally depressed tone.

However, Kaji approaches and informs them, "Okay girls, HQ needs you pronto."

"Another angel attack already?" Rei asks him. "Alright them.". Mari simply nods back.

"Okay let's get going." Kaji orders them and directs them to his car.

* * *

"So what are we going up against now, Commander?" Rei asks Gendo, now in her plugsuit and standing alongside Shinji and Mari, who are also in their respective plugsuits.

"Well...as far as I know, the angel in question this time...is...quiet." Gendo quickly replies back, still having a hard time believing that himself.

"Quiet?" Mari asks him. "That's kind of a weird thing to say about an angel, as well as your bizarre decision to wear shorts of all things."

"Yeah, my shorts. Not very flattering if you ask me." Gendo quietly tells himself.

"Well, speaking of weird things, where's Asuka?" Rei pipes in and asks everyone else.

"Asuka's...well...not feeling well enough to pilot again at the moment." Misato informs them.

"So that's why she wouldn't come back home after school." Shinji inquires.

"Yes Shinji. She's staying over at a friend's house tonight." Misato replies to him, which he simply nods back in response.

"So how much time do we got to stop this angel?" Rei asks her superiors.

"As usual, just get the job done and stop the angel as soon as possible before it can reach us here in HQ." Yui replies.

"Yes we still can't afford an angel breaking into HQ ever again." Gendo adds. "Especially after that fiasco with that one with the stupid size changing powers."

"Affirmative" all three kids reply, nodding their heads in unison.

"Okay then, chop chop. We got no time to slack now." Gendo orders them, clapping his hands as he stands up and walks around to watch them walk to their respective entry plugs.

* * *

"So Keel's personal note about the angel seriously was that it's quiet?" Yui asks her husband. "Sounds utterly preposterous."

"Actually, an angel that has the ability to be silent doesn't seem to be too much out of the realm of possibility for me." Ritsuko adds while adjusting her glasses.

"Whatever that means, they should be able to take care of it with ease as they have proved over time and time again." Misato pipes in, sounding very optimistic that they'll be able to stop the angel."

"Wait guys...is Jet going out too?" Shiro asks them after he pops up, sounding like he's out of breath.

"Not this time." Gendo replies. "Your mech needs some maintenance before it can go back into combat."

"Okay then, i'll get on it." Shiro replies and runs back towards the hanger where Jet is being stored.

"Guys..guys..." Hyuga shouts at his fellow workers.

"What is it?" Misato replies while stretching her neck.

"Speaking of missing people." Hyuga adds. "Where's Lieutenant Ibuki?"

"Oh she's got the day off. Ritsuko will fill in for her." Gendo quickly replies.

Ritsuko's eyes bug out in shock, looks at Gendo and yells out, "WHAT?"

* * *

As the EVAs pop out of the ground to find the angel, a shadowy figure that resembles the one Gendo had conversations with and Rei saw on her birthday, stands on top of a rooftop, watching what goes down in front of it's eyes. As it sets up a tripod to put a digital camcorder on, it's long black tattered cape sways wildly as the wind blows. "There we go.", it growls in it's haunting, robotic howl as it looks at the camcorder's monitor and sees the three giants armed with it's own assortment of weapons walk through the streets to find it's target.

The figure walks away from the camcorder and pulls out a digital camera to capture various shots of the EVAs for reasons unknown.

"So...where is the angel I may presume?" Mari asks as she controls her EVA through the city streets.

"Beats me." Rei adds. "Hell if I know where it could."

Unit 01 stands around with it's assault rifle in hand. Little to it's knowledge, a giant pearly figure floats up behind it and starts to shine like the burning sun at day rise.

A horrific, tingling feeling pulsates through Shinji's body as he screams at his fellow pilots, "Rei, Mari. Something's wrong with me!"

The others see the object behind Shinji's EVA, which Rei then exclaims "Shoot, that must be the angel!"

"Oh bollocks!" Mari sneers back. "Hang on, I think I can take it on.". Mari makes her Evangelion extract it's blades and makes a mad dash to the angel, only to stumble down as Mari feels the same, horrifying feeling flow under her skin.

"Oh hell, I feel it too. What the hell is up with this angel, is it telepathic or what." she screams in pain as she clenches her body in an attempt to ease the pain.

"Shit. What the hell am I supposed to do?" Rei ponders in frustration as her two friends are now in the angel's psychokinetic clutches.

"I dunno, just stand there for the time being and try to keep it occupied until we can get some backup to help you and save your fellow pilots." Misato informs her as she watches what conspires in the monitors.

* * *

"Asuka...are you okay?" Hikari asks her as they both sit inside a bedroom. "You've been looking really depressed recently and it's worrying me."

"It's...hard to explain." Asuka replies in a somewhat dead tone. "Ever since I failed to save DesuLoli, i've been questioning myself over my whole job as an EVA pilot."

"Ummmm...yeah I know it sucks you couldn't save someone but my dad once told me that things happen in life." Hikari replies. "I lost my mother when I was young and I miss her every day but I learned not to blame myself and cherish the memories that I had with her. You could at least do the same with Kristina and stop blaming yourself for her death."

"But that's the thing. I have very few good memories with Kristina. I was such a mean dummkopf to her the day she died. I can't deal with that, it's just too much for me to handle." Asuka quietly replies back.

"Oh man." Hikari tells herself. She then looks around and tells Asuka, "Well, there should be other memories you can remember her by. Aside from that day, you two kinda got along alright, especially on Rei's birthday so like I said, stop blaming it was your fault and just move on with life with the best of memories of her you can remember and cherish for the years to come."

"Okay...I guess so." Asuka replies, still looking really glum. "So what should we do?"

"I dunno...I guess watch TV." Hikari responds as she turns on the TV, only to see a news report regarding the current angel attack.

"We're live at the scene and it appears that the Evangelions are in grave trouble." the reporter informs the viewers. "At the moment, two of the Evangelions have been rendered immobile and the third seems to be overwhelmed by the odds the angel has brought on. Reportedly, i've gotten word that help from the JSSDF is on the way and should assist Nerv in the already disaster of a battle. More information will come in once we get it."

Asuka watches the report, looking horrified that the fight has taken a turn for the worst. She tells herself, "Oh shit. Baka Shinji, that idiot with the glasses and Wondergirl are in need of help and i'm nowhere to be seen. I want to go help, but I don't want to risk any more collateral damage on my part...but maybe...just maybe there won't be any casualties this time if I make it in time."

"Asuka...Asuka...are you okay. Can you hear me?" Hikari asks her as her friend glazes at the TV screen, not uttering a single word in response to the news report.

* * *

"Alright...I may not be in the best position to fight you but I can try my best to see if I can outsmart you." Rei tells the angel in a fairly nervous tone as Unit 00 holds its prog swords and stands in front of it and its fellow Evangelions..

All of a sudden, her friends' EVAs turn their heads towards hers, clutching their weapons hard.

"I thought you guys were in pain. Are you better now?" Rei asks her friends.

"Pain. No Rei...the only pain you will be feeling is the one we'll deliver to you." Shinji replies in a chilling, zombie-like manner.

"Yes Rei...you may feel a lot of pain when we first get to you but we promise to make it short and sweet. Short and sweet." Mari adds, also having that terrifying type of dialect Shinji has at the moment.

"I can't get any readings from Evangelion Units 01 and 05." Aoba shouts out as he witnesses the vital signs of both the pilots and their Evangelions scramble into virtually incomprehensible words and configurations. "This is so fucking bizarre I can't believe it!"

"Dear god, the angel has taken control of Evangelion pilots Shinji Ikari and Mari Makinami!" Ritsuko shouts out in utter horror as she focuses on their status.

"This is no good, this is no good at all." Gendo grumbles back, sounding more restrained than everyone else.

"We need to do something to save their lives. Especially our son, dammit!" Yui screams out as a gut feel of absolute terror overwhelms her.

"Guys, what do I do to save them and stop the angel?" Rei asks her superiors.

"Rei...just try to remain calm, we'll eventually figure something..." Misato replies, trying her best to keep a grasp of her emotions as she sees the other pilots played like puppets.

However, her attention, as well as everyone's else is broken as a door opens and slams without warning. They all turn around and see a familiar figure standing a distance from them.

"Misato...Commander...Dr. Ikari...Dr. Akagi...Aoba?" Rei asks as everyone in HQ goes silent, much to her dismay. "Dammit, why go silent at me at such a horrifying moment.", she yells as her fellow Evangelions and the angel overwhelm her.

She makes Unit 00 walk back a little, with the prog swords still in hand, yet the monitors in her screen change to a feed of none other than the leader of the infamous 90s religious group Heaven's Gate, trying to get into her head and accept defeat.

"Come on, Ayanami. Join us to the stars above and we can all be together as one." Shinji tells her as Unit 01 approaches her Evangelion, holding the assault rifle like it's a baseball bat.

"Yes...let us kill you so we can set you free!" Mari adds in a very disturbing, menacing tone as Unit 05 walks towards Unit 00, striking its blades against each other.

Rei shifts her eyes at the nightmarish sight, sweating and trying to think of a way to get out of this in a manner that would not cost her friends' lives. "What I do, Rei. What the hell do I do to stop this madness?", she tells herself in a very panicked tone.

"THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOURSELF EXCEPT SURRENDER YOURSELF TO OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AMONG THE STARS!" the apparition of deceased Heaven's Gate leader Marshall Applewhite tells her on the monitors, looking even more sickly and demented than he did on the original tapes.

Rei tries her hardest to keep her cool as the entire situation deteriorates in front of her eyes. However, she hears a loud crash that distracts her a little for only a few seconds. "What on Earth is going on now?"

* * *

What she, her mindwarped fellow EVA pilots, the angel and The Dark One do not know that from another rooftop across the way, a giant figure cloaked in a long, brown, tarp hidden from view with a prog knife in hand watches the battle like a hawk spying on it's next victim. It focuses in on the angel and without notice, leaps from the roof and pounces onto the angel like a cat attacking it's prey, forcing the strange, alien, being to tumble into the ground with an explosion of asphalt and pipes.

"Oh shit!", Rei shouts in shock as she witnesses the insanity going on right in front of her eyes.

The mind controlled Evangelions, shockingly enough, do not even twitch at the sight of the giant and instead simply stand still like a pair of lobotomized mental patients.

The angel tries its hardest to hold the titan in its paralytic clutches, but fails, instead pushing it back right into a nearby building. After the being crashes into the building, the tarp falls out and reveals it to be none other than Evangelion Unit 02, shocking the other pilots that Asuka, without even notifying anyone, decided to join in on the fight after all.

"Alright you pearl white bastard, you're not gonna stop me so easily!" Asuka screams at the angel and charges right towards it with prog knife in hand.

Despite the angel scrambling to initiate one of it's psychic powers on Asuka and Unit 02, it fails miserably as the prog knife is violently jammed right into it's body, causing blood to spill out like a tipped over bowl of tomato sauce.

Unit 02 starts to pull the blade upward through the angel's body, making blood and guts splashing down to the ground right until it bumps right into the core, which rather than thinking otherwise, the EVA simply drops the knife and grabs a hold of the core, ripping it right out of the angel and killing it in the process.

"Now that's what I call power. I need to make some more adjustments to my own personal beauty." The Dark One growls in excitement as it has gotten enough footage and photos of the EVAs in action to satisfy it and help in the making of it's own private little project deep in HQ.

* * *

The angel's brutal mental clutch on Shinji and Mari suddenly vanishes, releasing them from their borderline brainwashed state. "What the heck just happened?" Shinji asks Rei in a greatly confused tone.

"The angel did some weird trickery that took complete control of you two which made my life a lot harder...until you know who showed up." Rei replies and explains to them as he notices the monitors inside her cockpit return to normal, with no sight of the long dead cult leader to be found.

"Well that's a load of bollocks but at least..." Mari responds, but stops when she looks up and sees that Unit 02 is in front of her and Shinji. 'Hey Asuka...thanks for coming in at the nick of time to stop that angel.", she thanks her though the Germanic redhead doesn't utter a single word.

More surprising, however, is that Mana is in a distance from the action, who really gets Asuka's attention. She looks around and sees that no casualties have been made in her actions. She smiles and tells everyone, "I'm back in business!"

Shinji also spots Mana, which she looks at his EVA in awe. He makes Unit 01 wave at her, which she waves back and smiles at it, which, to his surprise, gives him the old butterflies in the gut feeling.

* * *

Several hours later, Rei stands in front of her favorite record shop, disappointed that it closed for the night.

"Damn, i'm been having a really shitty day so far. Hell, even Asuka managed to get the better of me during our mission...and she wasn't even there in the first place.

"Hey there...don't I remember you from a while back?" a voice asks her from behind.

"Ummm...excuse me but I don't quite..." Rei replies, but she then turns around and, to much of her surprise, sees a face she didn't expect to see again at all.

"Wow...your hair has gotten quite a bit longer since we last met...say...isn't your name Rei?" the guy asks her.

"Yeah...and...is that you, Kashiro...isn't that your name?" Rei asks him, noticing that while his face is a bit familiar, the addition of some facial hair and the far more casual looking hair style throws her off a little.

"Yeah Rei, it's me. Kashiro Wakayama. We met at the airport back in December in case you forgot." he replies with a grin on his face.


	39. Chapter 38: Darkness Descends

**Chapter 38: Darkness Descends**

* * *

"So what you've been up too since we last met?" Kashiro asks Rei as they sit by a table inside a cafe.

"Doing what I came here for." Rei replies as she converses with him and waits for her drink. "I did meet quite a few friends, had a close encounter with death, had my arm broken for a month, witnessed a friend die and saved many other lives among other things."

"So how's the job at Nerv going?" he asks her. "As good as you hoped or are you already sick of it by now?"

"Aside from the aforementioned loss of a friend and injury that put me out of commission for a little while, the job's been fine. Piloting an Evangelion, while not as easy as you would think, becomes second nature after a while." Rei replies. "Of course having friends on the job too also makes my life easier so it's all cool."

"Not bad." Kashiro replies. "Unfortunately for me, things are not going as well as I planned so I decided to...well...move back to Tokyo 3."

"Oh really?" Rei replies, surprised that Kashiro will be around longer than the last time she ran into him. "Well I guess that's cool. That also means that..."

"That we can have some...quality time together." Kashiro replies, which he then grins at Rei with implied deviousness.

At first, Rei doesn't know how to react and reply to Kashiro's comment, but after a few brief seconds, she looks at him right in his eyes and replies back, "...okay. Just tell me what you have in mind."

"Well..." Kashiro replies. "..how about we...ummmm...go to my place?"

"Go to his place?" Rei thinks to herself as she looks at him in a vaguely less than positive light. "First off, I barely know the guy and what if he has some bullshit date rape plan in motion? I'm gonna be pissed if he tries to and i'll make it loud and clear that i'm not someone you try to mess with." She then stops her internal dialogue, examines his face and his body, trying to picture what he would look in the nude, imagining toned six pack abs, a firm ass and thin yet muscular arms and legs, smiling at him in the process which she then resumes thinking to herself. "On the other hand...he is good looking. Hell, he might have a fine body underneath those clothes. Love to rip them off and caress his chest, arms and thighs as he lays down on a bed. Yet, do I really need to even consider dating this guy? I still like to eventually ask Shinji out, but he has that Mana girl that he's making looks at. Oh well, screw it. I'll settle with Kashiro...for now."

"Rei?" Kashiro asks her, concerned that she hasn't replied. "Rei?"

Rei simply remains quiet and smiles, which continues to worry Kashiro until he looks at her, waves his right hand in front of her face and adds, "Earth to Rei. Are you okay?"

She then blinks her eyes, shakes her head, looks at Kashiro and replies, "Oh i'm sorry about it. So what did you suggest we do again?"

"I said we should to my place." Kashiro replies, sounding slightly annoyed by having to repeat himself.

Rei then thinks for a few seconds, just to further consider going or not, looks at Kashiro with a big smile and replies, "Okay. Just show me the way."

"Oh cool." Kashiro replies back, seeing that Rei looks a bit gleeful towards wanting to go to his place. "Let's just get our drinks so I can pay for them. Then we can go my place."

"Alright." Rei responds. "I'm fine with just waiting a little bit...".

Right before she could finish her sentence, a waitress walks by with their drinks, first says "Chocolate Cookie Crumble Frappuccino?", which Rei immediately raises her hand and immediately gets it handed over to her. The waitress then picks up the other drink, mutters "Dark Cherry Mocha Latte?" which Kashiro pretty much replies, "Right over here." and gets it handed over to him.

The waitress then pulls out the check and tells them, "That'll be 1257 yen total.", which Kashiro pulls out his wallet, hands her over the required yen, waves at her as she walks away, turns his head towards Rei and tells her, "Alright let's get out of here.", which she nods back and follows him as he makes his way out of the cafe.

* * *

A good three minutes later, Rei and Kashiro walk through the streets, making their way to Kashiro's place. To make it feel like time is going by a bit faster, they both drink their respective drinks and chat with each other.

"I have no idea why I never bothered to go in there before but I know for sure i'll be back." Rei tells Kashiro as she drinks her frappuccino. "This is so delicious."

"Tell me about it." Kashiro replies. "Hey can you let me try yours?"

"Only if you let me try out yours in exchange." Rei replies back while smirking.

"Sure thing." Kashiro responds and nods back, which he then and Rei both trade their respective drinks to try the other one out. After taking a sip of Rei's drink, he turns his head back towards her and adds, "I'll admit it, they did a hell of a job with your frappuccino."

"So basically I have the better drink...right?" Rei asks him before taking a sip of his drink. She then takes a sip of it, turns her attention back to him and adds, "Well your drink is good but yeah, mine's bitchin'."

"See I told you so." Kashiro replies. He then looks up, smiles, looks back at Rei and adds, "Oh by the way, we're here."

"Ah okay." Rei responds, which she then trades drinks with Kashiro again to get her drink back. "So we just inside?"

"Yeah Rei. Come inside." Kashiro replies which he then walks to the door, pulls out his keys and unlocks it as he sips on his drink. He then looks at Rei, waves his hand to direct her into his place, which she pretty much cautiously follows him inside.

* * *

"Wow Kashiro. Paint me impressed." Rei tells him as she looks around his place. "How were you able to get such a nice place here and all out of your pocketbook to boot?"

"Actually my folks were kind enough to kick in some yen so I could buy it." Kashiro replies. "So yeah, it's all to myself. Hell, you can stay here tonight if you want."

"Ummm...i'll think about it." Rei replies back.

"How about you think about this." Kashiro replies, which he then wraps his left arm around Rei's waist, plants his right hand on the back of Rei's head and, to her surprise, passionately kisses her.

Normally, Rei would react as accordingly, but since she's rather surprised by that Kashiro, despite being a bit of a stranger, is actually a fairly decent kisser, as well as that her hormones kick in, making her wrap her arms around Kashiro's body and locking lips with him in acceptance.

As they continue kissing, Kashiro grabs Rei by her legs, hoists her up and takes her to his bedroom. He then carefully sets Rei down on his bed, which she simply lays back looking like she's in ecstasy and softly panting in excitement. However, her slight sexual excitement somewhat grinds to a halt when she sees Kashiro pulling off his T-Shirt, though some enthusiasm returns to her upon seeing his rock hard abs and muscle tone.

"Wha'cha think, Rei?" Kashiro asks her as he shows her his muscular yet lean body.

"Looks fine." Rei replies in a somewhat deadpan tone. She then thinks to herself, "Damn good body but I don't like where this is going. I'll just go with the flow for now though."

Kashiro then gets on the bed and lays down next to Rei, which they both resume kissing. They both firmly wrap their arms around each other's backs, though Kashiro begins to slide his right hand down against Rei's body, which she simply laughs over getting tickled by the feeling of his hand rub against her warm, pale body.

* * *

They both continue to kiss as Kashiro continues sliding his right hand down Rei's body, now reaching her jeans. He unbuttons her jeans, unzips them and much to her shock, shoves his hand into Rei's panties and touches her genitalia. This catches Rei off guard so much, she spontaneously clenches her right hand, pulls her arm away from his body and delivers a swift, hard punch to Kashiro's face, it ends up connecting with his nose, causing a stomach churning cracking sound to echo out and blood to start pouring out of his nostrils, which he quickly reacts by pulling his arms away from her and planting his hands on his nose to stop the blood from flowing and to try to fix his obviously broken nose.

"Oh shit i'm so sorry Kashiro!" Rei yells back in shock over that she injured him.

"Uhhh...that's okay Rei. Did I come onto you too soon?" Kashiro replies and asks her, though sounding a lot more nasally.

"Ummmm...no. I just had a very brash reaction of something. I didn't mean to nearly maim you though, i'm so damn sorry about that." Rei replies back in a very apologetic tone.

"Please don't blame yourself over that. It's okay." Kashiro responds. "I'm not mad at you at all, in fact you can still stay over. No hard feelings okay?"

"...Nah I better get going now. I'll see you tomorrow okay. Just please go get that nose checked out or something but don't tell them how you broke it." Rei replies while nervously smiling at him.

"...alright then. Goodnight Rei." Kashiro responds as Rei buttons and zips up her pants, grabs her belongings and quickly leaves his house without even replying. "Damn she was in a real hurry. I wonder why."

* * *

Several minutes later, Rei is seen walking on the streets again, still having a hard time comprehending what just happened tonight. She sits down on a bench and looks at the hand she punched Kashiro with.

"Okay Rei." she tells herself. "How the hell did I do that?".

She wiggles her hand, clenches it and such to see if she injured herself, but to her surprise, she feels no pain or any broken bones in her arm at all.

"Hmmm. At least I know I don't need to be wearing a cast again for another few months." Rei inquires. She then looks down at the bench and adds, "Well...lemme see if that was just a freak accident or something really is going on with me.".

Rei then gets off the bench, turns around, bends down and grabs a hold of the bench. She then lifts it up which, much to her shock manages to completely lift it off the ground and hold it over her head with complete ease.

"Oh...shit. I think I need to tell this to the Ikaris and...ugh...Dr. Akagi." Rei inquires, realizing that what she did to Kashiro was not a one time freak accident but something potentially serious.

She then sees a Taxi driving through the streets a block down from her, which she then prompts to walk into the street and shout, "Taxi. Taxi!", which it pulls over, the driver looks out of one of the windows and shouts back, "Get in."

* * *

"So you're on them EVA pilots eh?" the Taxi driver asks her. "You look too young to be holding some other position in Nerv."

"Yeah." Rei quickly replies.

"Ah. Makes sense why you're having me drop you off there, though I haven't heard the news tell me of an angel attack today." he replies back.

"Well to be fair I would've known ahead of time if I had to go there and suit up but I got another, rather...ummmm...strange situation going on I need to talk to about with one of my superiors." Rei responds, sounding a little embarrassed to even hint of her new-found troubles.

"..oh I see." he inquires. He then looks up, sees that he has arrived at Nerv HQ, pulls over, turns his head towards Rei and informs her, "Alright kid, we're here."

"Oh good." Rei replies. She then pulls out and hands the Taxi driver fifteen dollars, though her looks at her and tells her, "Keep the cash, kid. I find charging my protectors to be quite counter productive."

"Thank you." Rei again replies, which she puts her money away, gets out of the Taxi, looks back at him and adds, "And once again...thanks for the ride."

"No problem." the Taxi driver replies and waves his hand at Rei as she walks towards Nerv HQ.

Rei waves back and sees him drive away, which she then immediately turns her attention back to going inside Nerv HQ.

* * *

Inside, she walks around and sees how much of an empty industrial nightmare the place is at the dead of night when there isn't an angel attack going on.

"Oh poo I think I should've just went home and walked over here in the morning. I can't see a damn thing when it's this dark." Rei whines as she walks through Nerv HQ, trying to find the Med lab so she can sleep in there and let Ritsuko find her there when she shows up at HQ in the morning.

Little to Rei's knowledge, a mysterious person hides in the shadows, watching Rei walk through the place. However, Rei then turns her head towards where the person is hiding, which said person then quiet groans, "Oh fuck." and ducks down so she can't see if someone is there.

"Huh. I guess i'm just seeing things." Rei tells herself and continues to walk through HQ.

The person then pushes its hand against the wall and opens a secret door. Before going in, the person then says in a vicious tone, "Oh you think you're seeing things now Rei but remember...you should fear what's lurking in the shadows, not the shadows themselves." and proceeds to enter the secret room, closing the door immediately after getting in.

* * *

Rei, still walking through the darkened hallways of Nerv HQ, decides to take a breather by sitting down against a wall. "Sheesh I dunno what it is about the lights but man oh man, I could use them right now or hell, someone to just guide me through the place. I feel like i've been walking down the same hallway for twenty damn minutes.".

She then starts to close her eyes to try to fall asleep, but after a minute, she realizes that she cannot fall asleep and decides to stand back and walk around in hope that it will get her tired.

She then stops by a table and to her surprise, finds a flashlight conveniently sitting on it. She immediately picks it up and flips it on, which at first it seems like it's working fine but when she starts walking around again while using it to lighten the place up, it starts to dim.

"Oh god dammit." Rei groans in disappointment. The flashlight then completely dies on her, which only further drives up her frustrations.

Instead of trying to venture any further, she simply remains standing, fuming over how much of an idiot she was for deciding to stop by HQ way too early in the morning. However, her eyes widen in shock when two red lights suddenly cut through the darkness.

"Remember me, Ms. Ayanami?" a voice growls out of the darkness, which she immediately recognizes it.

"You...you're the one that called on my birthday!" she yells back. "How...how the hell do you know who I am?".

"I just do." the voice replies back, which then the lights start moving closer to Rei.

Rei, realizing that the voice is coming from what's shining the lights, clenches her fists and gets into a fighting position, hoping her newly gained freak strength will help her. The figure then gets closer to Rei, revealing it to be none other than The Dark One, which Rei then tries to punch him. However, he immediately grabs her right hand with his right hand.

She tries to pull her hand away but The Dark One simply tightens his grip on her. He then growls at her, "Is that you telling me you want to fight, Ms. Ayanami?"

Rei then looks at The Dark One's arm, thinks for a few seconds, then looks back at his masked face and replies, "...you got one now, Darth Vapor!', which she then kicks his arm, which he groans in pain and immediately lets go of her.

Rei then clenches her fists, steps back a bit, runs towards The Dark One and knees him in his chest, which causes him to stumble back a bit. He then wraps his right arm around his chest and growls, "Fuck...that hurt. Ugh."

The Dark One then slowly stands back up, still feeling the effects of getting hit in the chest. Rei then immediately charges at him and starts delivering several quick punches to his masked visage and a few kicks to his sides. However, he quickly backhands her, which sends her down to the ground hard.

"You think the standard issue Nerv hand to hand combat training is gonna help you in this fight, Ms. Ayanami?" The Dark One growls at her.

"Actually, that's only half of what's going to help me." Rei replies, which despite having a small but bloody cut on her lower lip, stands up, charges at him again and delivers a rock hard punch to his face, which happens to not only crack the lenses of his helmet but also does some minor damage to the helmet's hi-tech built in monitor.

The Dark One then kneels down to the ground, realizing that his sight has been damaged a bit but rather than removing his helmet to see better, he keeps it on in favor of keeping his identity a secret.

Rei then looks at her hand and despite seeing that she now has a cut on her hand, she shrugs it off, clenches her hands again and gets back into a fighting stance.

The Dark One then stands back up, which prompts Rei to charge back at him, to she's immediately stopped in her tracks by a painful knee to her stomach, courtesy of The Dark One. He then delivers a sequence of hard, painful punches to her face, which steadily adds bruises and cuts to her face. To add insult to injury, he uppercuts her in the chin, grabs her by her neck, lifts her up over his body and throws her into a corner littered with cardboard boxes.

Despite having a copious amount of aching pain all over her body and completely drenched in sweat, Rei slowly stands back up, once again gets into a fighting stance, though her posture is a bit exhausted and winded.

"You're really fucking stupid, Ms. Ayanami." The Dark One berates her, obviously treating her like a joke. "The only thing you're gonna be doing after tonight is sitting in a morgue."

"I may be an idiot for trying to defend myself, but I have to say i'll pass spending tomorrow with a bunch of cold stiffs because I got better things to do." Rei shouts back in a cocky tone and smirks. She then runs at The Dark One, punches and kicks him quite a few times, dodges a few of his own attacks and once again hits him in the chest, which brings him back on his knees.

Rei then takes several steps away from The Dark One, cranks her neck, runs towards him the fastest she can, jumps high up in the air (which greatly shocks and puzzles The Dark One), does a few flips in the air and kicks him in the face so hard it does even more substantial damage to his helmet, it manages to completely shatter it's lenses, exposing his eyes.

Rei then lands on the ground, stunned over how she was able to do that, looks at The Dark One and, for a split second, catches a glimpse of the eyes inside the helmet. However, he immediately turns away, yells out, "You may have won this round, Ms. Ayanami but I promise you...the next time we meet up...and that's IF one of the angels don't kill you first, you certainly won't be the victor." and runs away into the rich, shadowy darkness.

Satisfied she managed to beat the so-called Dark One, Rei exhales in happiness. She then touches her face, feels a wet sensation, looks at her hand and sees it's covered in blood, which makes her mutter, "Oh dear. How am I going to explain this to everyone?"

* * *

Several hours later, daylight has arrived and Ritsuko Akagi has just entered Nerv HQ. She walks around the place, sees a trail of blood on the floor, follows it and enters the med bay.

Inside, she sees Rei sitting on a bed, which she asks her, "Hey Rei, are you okay. Did you stay here all night?"

"I guess that's the best way you could put it, Ritsuko." Rei replies, though she doesn't turn her face towards Ritsuko.

"Hey why aren't looking at me when you reply?" Ritsuko replies.

"I...don't think you'll like what you'll see." Rei sarcastically yet bluntly replies.

"Oh god dammit Rei. Just turn around and show me your face!" Ritsuko shouts back, growing frustrated over how Rei's acting right now.

"Okay Ritsuko, but I warned you." Rei responds, which she then turns around and shows Ritsuko her face, which horrifies her quite a bit.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Rei. What the hell happened to you!" Ritsuko replies in a repulsed tone, seeing Rei's bloodied and bruised as hell face, which while not a pretty sight, isn't nearly as ghastly as her face was after her first angel fight.

"It's a long story." Rei quips back, smiling and knowing she's gonna have to explain some things to everyone.


	40. Chapter 39: Our Band Could Be your Life

**Chapter 39: Our Band Could Be Your Life**

* * *

"For the love of god, Rei. Please explain why you're all beat up?" Yui questions Rei as they are seen inside Nerv's med bay. Ritsuko, Gendo and Fuyutsuki are both standing alongside Mrs. Ikari and facing the first child, all looking both very worried and angry as they try to grasp a concept of what happened with Rei the night before.

"Well I met up with a guy last night and for the record, it was not the third child." Rei explains while trying her hardest to lie to her superiors why exactly does her face resemble a frozen cow carcass after being used as a surrogate punching bag by Rocky Balboa.

"Then who did you meet up with last night?" Ritsuko sternly questions her, having a hard time believing what Rei is already saying. "If it wasn't Shinji that you hung out with, then who. One of the boys from school?"

"Negative, Dr. Akagi." Rei quickly replies, still trying to pull out a fabricated story that can be looked at as being plausible and not completely out of the realm of reality. "I met him in the airport when I first arrived in Tokyo-3 and just by looking at him, he's a little older than me. Probably college age if i'm correct."

"Rei, I don't think your parents would like to hear that if we were to call them up and tell them." Yui quips back at her in a mostly serious tone.

"Yeah you're definitely right about that, Ms. Ikari." Rei responds, shrugging off Yui's half baked threat of calling her parents. "Anyways, this guy asked me if I wanted to go get some frappucinos with him and while I had my hesitations, I decided to tag along."

"If you really had your doubts towards hanging out with this guy, you shouldn't have betrayed them, Ms. Ayanami." Fuyutsuki chastises her in a very gruff, strict tone.

"Good point, sir." Rei calmly replies back, completely agreeing with him. "However, nothing bad happened to me during my time with that guy until we arrived and ordered our frappucinos. It was at that time that Mr. college stud have the sudden urge to use the little boy's room and left me there to get our drinks."

The adults look at Rei with somewhat disgruntled grimaces and continue to listen to her trying to explain her messed up face. Yui, who's the most concerned of the bunch, twists her stoic expression into one of sorrow and asks, "So if that guy you tagged along with had to use the bathroom, then who possibly could've had the disturbing urge to mess up such a beautiful face like yours?"

"Well that was the first thing I asked myself when I regained conscious after getting hit by my attacker." Rei replies, which she quickly notices the grown ups are more or less starting to buy into what she's saying.

"So your attacker was at the scene." Gendo inquires as he tries to picture in his head the events Rei is describing. "Any idea what this son of a bitch looks like?"

"Oh yeah, Commander Ikari." Rei quickly replies in a very confident tone. "The guy who knocked my lights out was a six foot two, five hundred pound piece of pure unadulterated lard that decided that I was far too attractive for him to handle, as far as I can tell."

"First Child, are you telling us the honest truth?" Fuyutsuki again questions her, still retaining a dead serious demeanor. "If it turns out you were lying one way or another, there will be some seriously karmic consequences later down the road and if it won't be from it, it will come from somewhere else."

Gendo then looks at Fuyutsuki with a rather bewildered look and tells him, "Holy crap Kozo, calm down. It's not like she did anything criminal."

"Gendo, i'm not assuming Rei did anything criminal, i'm just chastising her in case she's lying to us", Fuyutsuki replies, sounding just as stern to his colleague as he has been to pilot of Evangelion Unit Zero.

"That's still a bit too harsh if you ask me." Gendo adds, trying to be as rational as possible. "You're treating her like she's on trial. Far more so than the rest of us."

"Gendo, I remember how you were in school. Constantly landing trips to the police office and the head dean's office and I was always there seeing your face, looking like you were begging to breathe out of a straw." Fuyutsuki reminds him, recalling the time Gendo was a student at the college Fuyutsuki taught at.

"Yes Kozo, I was a bit of a dumbass back then...and i'm still kinda am, but that's irrelevant to the current matters that is of our concern. Rei is just a kid and as they say...kids will be kids. There's nothing changing that. In fact, I was just a kid when I was getting my ass in trouble"

"Uh Gendo, you were twenty six when you pulling that shit." Fuyutsuki criticizes Gendo, calling him out on something that he seemed to have gotten fuzzy in his recollections.

"Oh." Gendo quickly replies back in a rather dopey sounding tone, quickly noting that Fuyutsuki indeed refreshed his memory a little better. "Still, my point stands. You can't just be so harsh on her on something that i'm very confident that she's telling the truth and not fibbing."

Fuyutsuki looks back at Gendo with a very frustrated grimace, seeing that this argument is going nowhere and groans, "Whatever Gendo."

Most frustrated than Fuyutsuki and even the other adults is Rei, who sees that her pseudo interrogation has been derailed by a somewhat petty spat between Gendo and Fuyutsuki. Wanting things to get back on track so she can go home and do other things, Rei butts in between the bickering men and mutters, "Hey, what happened to asking me about what I went through last night?"

Both men look back at the First Child and while Fuyutsuki says nothing, Gendo looks at her with a rather remorseful expression and tells her, "Um Ms. Ayanami, since you've proven your innocence and you look like you're in no real condition to work, i'm giving you the rest of the day off to recover from the injuries you received. Just take it easy though."

"...yeah. Considering how south of the border this went, I personally agree with my husband that you should just go home and relax the rest of the day, Ms. Ayanami." Yui adds, also wishing for the bickering to end.

Rei then looks at Ritsuko, who's sipping on a cup of coffee, then looks at Fuyutsuki, who's still looking very agitated and annoyed by his surroundings, then finally looks at the Ikaris, who's no longer looking as mad and worried as they were earlier. She then tells her superiors, "Alright, I guess i'll be going home now. Thanks for giving me the day off and trust me, i'm not a liar."

"We already know, Rei. Just go home." Ritsuko replies to Rei in a very unenthusiastic, bored tone and takes another sip of her coffee.

Rei looks at all of her superiors for one last time, smiles at them, tells them, "See you all later." and proceeds to skip out of the med bay.

* * *

With Rei gone, Ritsuko informs the others, "Alright I gotta run some tests on the Evangelions. Be back in a few hours.", takes yet another sip of her coffee and casually walks out of the med bed as well.

Gendo, who's starting to appear looking a little nervous, tells his wife and Fuyutsuki, "Ummm I gotta go to my office and check to see if Seele's been trying to contact me or something." and suddenly takes a run for it, leaving Yui and Fuyutsuki alone in med bad.

"Uh Gendo. Sweetie?" Yui confusingly tries to call her husband to see if he comes back but immediately realizes that he has indeed left like a bad habit to stop by his office. She looks at Fuyutsuki, who's still greatly agitated by what just happened and asks him, "Wanna get some breakfast for old time's sake?"

"Sorry Yui. I don't eat breakfast. Thanks for the offer though." Fuyutsuki calmly replies, rejecting her offer to get some food and ends up leaving the med bay too, though with no explanation what so ever.

"Welp. I guess no one wants to have breakfast with me." Yui mutters to herself in a rather glum tone, though she then pulls out her cellphone, opens it, searches through her contacts and adds, "I'll call Shinji and ask him if he wants to have breakfast. Maybe he can bring along that Mana girl he's been telling me about with him so I can meet her."

* * *

After leaving the med bay, Gendo is seen running through Nerv HQ, thinking, "Man why I do have to get in arguments with ol' Fuyutsuki. Friggin' hate doing that."

He continues to keep running through HQ, trying to reach his office until he's suddenly stopped by Hyuga, who asks him, "Hey Commander. Have you seen Lieutenant Ibuki anywhere?"

"No sir. I haven't seen the Lieutenant today." Gendo replies as he tries to catch his breath from all the running he did.

"Oh okay. Maybe she's just late again." Hyuga replies back, not surprised that Maya is late again. However, he also adds, "By the way, did you forget that we're testing some potential new bridge officers tomorrow?"

"Oh yes I didn't forget about tomorrow." Gendo responds in a very positive tone. "We can use some extra hands on the bridge during the missions."

"Most definitely." Hyuga nods back, agreeing with his superior. "However, if we do get some new bridge officers on board, I wonder if we'll still need the Lieutenant around, let alone keep her position."

At first, Gendo simply nods back but he starts to think over what Hyuga said, then snaps back at him, "As annoying and frequent as Ms. Ibuki's tardiness feels, she's a very valuable member so there's no chance at her losing a job here at Nerv."

Disappointed, Hyuga simply nods back at his superior and casually walks away without any desire to keep the conversation going. This quickly lets Gendo finish catching his breath and resumes making a mad dash to his office.

* * *

A minute and a half later, Gendo finally reaches his office, leans by the door to catch his breath again, opens the door and enters his own darkened office. Despite the room being draped in rich shadows, he sees what appears to be a woman applying disinfectant and bandages on some wounds on her body, mainly on her right arm and some small cuts on her face. When Gendo gets a bit closer to her, she quickly turns her head towards him and shouts in a shocked tone, "Commander Ikari, I was wondering where you were."

Gendo realizes that the woman in his office is Lieutenant Maya Ibuki and happens to not be wearing her bridge officer jacket, revealing her surprisingly perky, jiggly and slightly bigger than average breasts, which she has a white bra on over them. "Lieutenant Ibuki, are you okay. Were you involved in Ms. Ayanami's altercation last night?"

"Rei's hurt too?" Maya asks the Commanderr in a surprised yet worried tone, which strongly implies she was no where near where Rei was the night before according to her faux account of a fight at a cafe. "I'm so sorry to hear about that."

"Yeah she got messed up pretty badly." Gendo replies in a sorrowful tone. "I like to get my hands on this fat piece of shit she said was responsible for attacking her and make him feel sorry for doing that to such a nice young lady."

"I would too if I had a chance encounter with him just to set an example on how not to treat a woman." Maya adds in a very aggressive tone, expressing some frustration in her voice. "However, I did not run into the First Child last night, though I wish I did so I could've helped take her home so she wouldn't have gotten into trouble like she did."

"That's very kind of you, Ms. Ibuki." Gendo nods back, appreciating her kindness towards the First Child. "However, can you please explain why you're hurt too?"

"I was gonna explain why before you informed me of what happen to Rei but regardless, I visited a friend of mine last night and when I was leaving her apartment complex, I tripped on the staircase back to the street and hurt myself pretty badly."

"I see." Gendo replies, seeing the wounds Maya has. "I guess you took a hell a spill when that happened and I certainly know how it feels to trip on stairs. The end results are...quite unpleasant."

"When did you fall down some stairs, Commander?" Maya asks him, curious to get a slice of his own personal experiences.

"A few years ago." Gendo embarrassingly replies, blushing a little. "When we were constructing the EVA cages, I...well...slipped and took a hell of a spill down some stairs. Couldn't resume working on the construction until a good month or so of recovery time due to a bum left arm and right knee."

"That had to been a rather agonizing month, Commander Ikari." Maya replies back, which she then starts to put her bridge officer shirt back on and adds, "Anyways, is it feasible if I can take the rest of the day off?"

"Well I did give the First the rest of the day off, so I see no harm in letting you take the rest of the day off too." Gendo calmly replies, which Maya then gets off of a chair, stands up, starts heading towards the door and opens it. However, right before she leaves, he looks back and her and adds, "However, we're gonna need you back tomorrow so you can help evaluate some potential new bridge officers recruitees that we're gonna have over. These ladies, from what i've read from their applications, are really gonna look up to you as a senior member and the person that will help them be integral members of the team. Do you think you'll be up to that ask or will I have to give those duties to Shingeru or Makoto, Lieutenant Ibuki?"

After hearing what her superior said, Maya stands still for a few seconds, looks back at Gendo with a marginally sinister look in her face, replies, "Yes, Commander. I'm capable of doing that." then leaves the room and closes the door behind her.

* * *

With Maya gone, Gendo pulls the chair out of his desk, sits down on it and mutters, "I guess that's a bit of a relief. Hope she keeps her word and shows up tomorrow.". He then pulls out his cellphone, opens it up, scrolls through his contracts and lands onto one that simply is referred to as "Him.". He calls the number and waits for the person to pick up. However, he instead gets an automated female voice that tells him, "The person you're trying to reach is not available. Call again later or leave a message after the beep.", which he jokingly inquires, "Well I guess he's not by the phone at the moment. He'll probably call me later though.", then closes his cellphone and puts it aside.

* * *

"So, where did you meet my son, Ms. Kirishima?" Yui asks Mana as they and Shinji sit by a table in a rather nice looking restaurant, all eating rather fancy looking breakfast plates.

"I met your son on my first day of school here." Mana calmly replies in a slightly cutesy way. "I also met two of his friends but I don't quite remember their names that well."

"Mana, you also met my good friends Rei Ayanami and Mari Makinami, though Mari was a bit...blunt towards you at school." Shinji replies, then lightly chuckles as he recalls Mari's intense paranoia towards Mana the other day. "Anyhow, the three of us, plus another girl whom you haven't met yet, are the pilots of the Evangelions and we're trying our best to protect this city...and the world for that matter, from the angels."

"Wow that's so cool, Shinji." Mana replies back in a rather excited manner. "I'm friends with heroes!"

"Yeah my son and his colleagues are the protectors of the world, Ms. Kirishima." Yui responds to Mana. "In fact, Ms. Soryu was the one that saved you yesterday."

"Oh. That's very nice of her." Mana responds, still sounding unusually cheery over everything. "I wonder why I wasn't introduced to her yet, Shinji."

"She wasn't at school yesterday." Shinji replies to her. "If she was, you would've met her without a doubt."

"Okay." Man nods back, sounding slightly disappointed that she has yet to meet Asuka. However, she then turns her attention towards Mrs. Ikari and tells her, "That reminds me. I have a friend who lives her and plays bass guitar. His name is Musashi and he's heard there's a band in the city that's in need of a bassist. He likes to know where he can meet the band and set up an audition to see if he can join them."

"Ms. Kirishima, that's Ms. Ayanami and Ms. Makinami's band." Yui replies to Mana. "However, I highly advise him to visit Mr. Aoba and set up an audition with him. In fact, let me give you his address so your friend can visit him.". She then pulls out a pen and piece of paper, writes Aoba's address on the paper and hands it to Mana and adds, "Here you go. You might want to accompany your friend if he plans to go there anytime soon."

"Okay Mrs. Ikari." Mana calmly replies back, still sounding unnaturally cheery and upbeat over everything. She then stands up, looks at both Shinji and Yui, curtsies and adds, "I gotta do some things now but i'll meet up with you again later, Shinji. Also, nice to meet you, Mrs. Ikari."

"Nice to meet you too, Ms. Kirishima." Yui responds to Mana and finishes up her breakfast plate while Mana leaves the restaurant.

Shinji then sees Mana is gone, looks at his mother and asks her, "So, what do you think of her?"

"Well she's nice and all, my son." Yui replies while wiping her face with a napkin. "However, I like Rei better. What happened between the two of you?"

"Mom. You thought me and Rei were dating?" Shinji responds to his mother in a surprised tone. "We're just friends, mother. In fact, i'm not dating anyone at the moment."

Yui then sits quietly for a few seconds, reflects on what her son told her, then replies with a smile, "Well that means I have nothing to worry about now." She then stands up, grabs her plate and adds, "Alright Shinji, I gotta go back to HQ and look over some things with your father."

"Okay mom." Shinji replies back and watches his mother leave the restaurant all while he continues to eat his breakfast.

* * *

Outside of the restaurant, Yui gets into her car to drive back to HQ. However, before she gets the chance to start her car up, she hears her cellphone ringing, remarks, "Oh who could that be?", pulls it out, opens it and answers it, which she asks the caller, "Hello, this is Yui Ikari. Who is this i'm speaking to?"

To her surprise, she hears the voice of Shiro Tokita reply, "Hi Ms. Ikari. How are you doing?"

"Hi Mr. Tokita." Yui responds to her caller. "What are calling to ask me?"

"Ma'am, me and my friend Kaji have made plans to take a trip for a few days so i'm wondering if we can have some time off to do so?"

"Well...since it looks like we won't be busy in a few days, I personally say you two can go off your merry ways. However, you're gonna have to ask my husband for permission to get those days off." Yui tells Shiro, sounding very sincere in her response.

"Oh shit." Shiro sneers back, slightly disappointed by Yui's response. "I guess me and Kaji will have to pay the Commander a visit to get our time off."

"That's for the best, Mr. Tokita." Yu replies back, still sounding rather sincere. "Good luck."

"Thanks Ms. Ikari." Shiro responds to Ms. Ikari, though he immediately notices that she has hung up on her, which leads to him remarking, "Well that was no help."

"I guess we'll play Mr. Ikari a visit to get our time off." Kaji quips back, looking less annoyed than his friend. "It wouldn't be the first time I would have to ask him a favor."

"Oh boy." Shiro replies, then adds, "Well at least I can tell Jet where i'm gonna be for a few days."

"Good idea." Kaji responds to his friend. "Don't want him to be in the dark when we're gone."

* * *

"Man, the last thing I imagined I would be doing while living here is looking through a friggin' dumpster just to find something to hide my face from my friends!" Rei, who's now wearing a black sweatshirt and has it's hood over her head, complains as she digs through the dumpster inside an alleyway in the city. "I mean, the hell kind of a beef Darth fucking Vapor has towards me?".

However, while she continues to dig through the trash, a little girl sees her and asks, "Ma'am, why are you digging through garbage Isn't it dirty and icky?", which immediately breaks Rei's attention from her aimless treasure hunt.

"What do you want, kid?" Rei snaps back to her, all while not turning her head towards who's talking to her.

"Nothing. Just wondering why you're looking through garbage, that's all." the girl replies. "However, can you help me find someone for me?"

"Oh. Who could that be?" Rei replies back, starting to get a little interested in helping her.

"Well...from what my big brother told me, she has some really pale skin, blue hair, red eyes and is a pilot of something that is called an Evangelion." the girl explains to Rei, which she immediately notices that she's describing her to a tee.

"Um kid, that's me." Rei quickly replies and turns her head towards the girl far enough where her bruised face is not quite viewable and is obscured by her hood but she can at least she who's talking to her. "Now who could you be?"

"My name's Sakura, Ms. Ayanami. You're friend with my brother Toji and he told me you're the one who saved my life on New Year's Day." the girl explains to Rei while looking very sincere and earnest. "I just got out of the hospital today and wanted to meet the person who saved me life."

Rei remains quiet at first, but decides to completely turn around and face Sakura, despite her face being draped in faint darkness due to her hood and replies, "Nice to meet you, Sakura. Name's Rei Ayanami. Any idea where your big brother is?"

"Toji's ordering some food for us in a restaurant and I didn't want to just sit down and wait so I asked him if I could do something else in the meantime so that's why i'm here." Sakura replies to Rei in a cheery tone. "I don't think he'll mind if you stopped by the restaurant and said hi."

"Thanks Sakura but I got a lot of...stuff to take care of, so I can't stick around for too long." Rei replies back in a rather stern but caring tone."Nice meeting you, though."

"Nice to meet you too, Rei." Sakura responds to Rei, still sounding really cheery.

Right before Rei gets the chance to leave, she hears a familiar voice shouting, "Sakura, where are you?"

"Right here, big brother!" Sakura shouts back while slightly giggling a little. As she and Rei stand in the alley, they see Toji walk into the alley, holding a plastic bag full of chinese food in his left hand, who immediately spots his sister.

"Sakura, I got the food so we gotta go home now." Toji tells his sister, though he quickly sees the person standing next to her, which he adds, "Uh who are you talking to?"

"A friend of yours, silly." Sakura giggles back while still keeping her upbeat nature. "Her name's Rei. Does it ring a bell to you?"

"Rei, what are doing here?" Toji asks her, curious to know why she's in the area. "and why are you wearing a hood? It hasn't rained in weeks."

"I was just passing by the neighborhood to make my way to Aoba's house to do some jamming.", Rei replies to Toji, still keeping her damaged face slightly obscured.

"I see." Toji replies back, though he's still a bit confused about Rei trying her hardest to hide her face. "So what's wrong with your face?"

"Well...it's kinda a long story but to put things briefly, I was hanging out with a guy I met months ago when some douchebag thought I was too cute for words and tried to reprimand that for his own bizarre satisfaction.", Rei replies, still keeping up her bold face fib about why her face is all black and blue today.

"Do you remember what he looks like?" Toji asks her as his face turns into a light shade of red, fuming over that he just learned someone beat up Rei for no good reason.

"His looks are getting a little fuzzy in my memory now." Rei responds, trying to not get Toji to get too wound up in her blatant lies.

"If you do remember, come to me and tell me because I want to go beat the living snot out of this son of a gun." Toji sneers out, looking rather angry as he slams his left fist into his right palm.

"Yeah okay." Rei replies back, looking slightly embarrassed. "Anyway I really gotta go so i'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Same here." Toji responds to her as he starts to calm down a little "Me and Sakura can't just stand around here all day and let this food get cold. Anyways, see you at school tomorrow too."

"Bye Rei. Nice meeting you." Sakura chuckles, waves at Rei and starts following her big brother as he starts to leave. Rei nods and waves and starts to walk the other direction to continue her trek to Aoba's home.

* * *

"So let me get this straight, Kaji." Gendo tells him as they both sit inside his office, with Gendo sitting by his desk and Kaji standing in front of it. "You and Shiro are gonna be gone for a few days so you two can just have some fun?"

"In a nutshell, pretty much." Kaji replies to the Commander. "To be fair, it wasn't actually my idea to do this. It was all Shiro's idea."

"Huh. And lemme guess...since you and Mr. Tokita go back a few years, you decided to go ahead and tag along with him for old time's sake?" Gendo inquires while he sits and thinks for a few seconds. He then shifts his eyes back towards Kaji and adds, "So where is Mr. Tokita?"

"Yo Shiro. Wha'cha doing, brother?" Jet Alone Prime asks him as he sees him stumble his way into the hanger.

"Hey I just wanted to come by and tell you that me and Kaji will be out of town for a few days." Shiro replies as he makes his way to a corner full of dressers while holding a briefcase.

"So you dudes are taking a short vacation or is it a business trip?" Jet replies back, growing increasingly interested into why his creator is deciding to go on a trip.

"Yeah it's a shot vacation and most certainly not a business trip." Shiro responds as he throws some casual street clothes into his briefcase. "Not that doing a business trip would be a bad thing, it's just not really my forte."

"Dude, i'm not sure if I could be capable of doing a business trip." Jet quips to Shiro as he continues to watch him pack his briefcase.

"That's because I didn't program you with the ability to do business trips, silly." Shiro laughs at hearing what his own creation said. "Anyhow, see you in a few days. Make me proud if you end up in another angel fight before then."

"Sure thing, jack." Jet Alone replies, which Shiro then nods back and quickly runs out of the hanger to catch up with Kaji.

"I see." Gendo inquires after getting an explanation on Shiro's whereabouts. "I suspect that if he's gonna pop by, it won't be taking him too long to get here."

Right after Gendo utters that, he and Kaji hear the door open and see Shiro stumble into the office, panting and holding onto a briefcase.

"Sorry for being a bit late." Shiro pants out as sweat drips from his forehead. "I just wanted to tell Jet that i'll be gone for a few days so he wouldn't wonder why I won't be around during said days."

"...right." Gendo nods back after he listens to Shiro explaining his absence. "Anyhow, now that I got the both of you in my presence, can I have the mastermind behind this little plan give me a good reason why I should let the two of you go on a little trip while your fellow Nerv employees stay here and wait for the next angel to arrive so we can sacrifice our blood, sweat and tears to spring into action and get it eradicated from this world?"

Both Kaji and Shiro stand quietly for a few seconds, completely incapable of coming up with a response. However, Gendo cuts through the tension and adds, "Nah i'm just kidding. There's enough people employed here to fill in the void left by you two's absences, so of course you gentlemen can prance off from here and indulge into whatever nonsense you plan to dive into on your trip."

Both men then sigh in relief after hearing Gendo say that, possibly confirming that they can go on their trip as planned. Shiro then looks at Gendo again and asks, "So that means we can take our trip?"

"Of course, gentlemen." Gendo smiles as he continues to sit down by his desk. "Go ahead and go on your trip."

Kaji and Shiro then bow at the Commander, utter in unison, "Thanks boss." and proceed to leave his office.

* * *

After seeing Shiro and Kaji leave his office, Gendo leans back on his chair, exhales and cranks his neck. He then leans back towards the table, grabs a folder laying on it and opens it up, revealing several papers detailing the profiles of four women, presumably the Nerv bridge applicants that will be showing up tomorrow to be evaluated for potential employment. Gendo then sighs and mutters, "Well at least these ladies could be a good remedy for when we're lacking extra hands around the place."

* * *

Some time later, Aoba is seen sitting in his house with Mari, who are both wondering about Rei's current whereabouts.

"So how much you'll bet over Rei not showing up today for rehearsals?" Aoba asks Mari, growing both worried and somewhat impatient over the lack of his fellow guitarist.

"Uh how about six pounds?" Mari quickly replies.

Aoba then face palms and hastily replies, "Dammit Mari, you're supposed to bit in yen, not pounds!"

"Oh bollocks that's right." Mari apologizes in an embarrassed tone. "I still haven't quite gotten used to Japanese currency, so my bad."

"Eh it's alright." Aoba replies. "I guess i'll feel the same way once I decide to travel to America one of these days. I can only imagine how confusing it would be to convert yen to US dollars, let alone convert yen to pounds."

"Yeah." Mari responds. "Still, you could say that's a part of life we should all be thankful was kept the same in the post-impact world."

"I agree," Aoba nods back. "When you think about it, not a whole damn lot has changed since the second impact. A lot of folks were afraid that the water would be ruined and that certain countries would be trapped in an eternal summer but ultimately, that was all baseless paranoia. The oceans are still blue, we still have winter in Japan despite the Commander and his wife preferring us inhabitants of Tokyo-3 to live in a friggin' bubble that keeps things like it's goddamn August and overall, everything just seems to be the same as ever."

"So what exactly did the second impact do to the world that had some actual negative side effects?" Mari asks Aoba, curious to get some info out of him since she was too young to remember much about the second impact when it actually happened.

"Lots of dirty politics were revealed to the general public." Aoba replies to Mari in a smarmy tone. "Bunch of power hungry maniacs who thought they could keep their skeletons and scum operations hidden were taken down a few notches thanks to all of the heavy crap that came out of second impact and the world's been better off without 'em."

"Too bad not all of them were eradicated." Mari sighs since she knows first hand that corruption has not totally died out in the post-impact world.

"Oh don't worry Mari." Aoba chimes back with a smile. "Those bastards are like dinosaurs in today's environment. They'll eventually die out sooner or later."

"True, but that doesn't take away the ugly fact that we'll still have to put up with their rubbish in the meantime." Mari sneers back in an annoyed tone.

* * *

Right before either of them could get the chance to take the next step in the conversation, both Mari and Aoba hear the doorbell ring. They both look at each other with surprised stares and remain quiet for a few seconds until Mari breaks the tension and mutters, "Hey. I think she's here. Should I go answer the door?"

"I'll go answer it. You'll never know who it could be." Aoba quips back, stands up and makes his way to his front door.

Like he said to Mari, Aoba doesn't assume who could be at the door and looks through the eye hole to make sure it's someone he recognizes. However, he sees a pale teenage girl wearing a hooded sweatshirt outside and despite some reservations, opens it and to his surprise, realizes that the hooded girl is in fact Rei and happens to be hiding her face inside the sweatshirt's hood.

"Rei, i'm glad to see you finally made it but...is something wrong?" Aoba asks her as she sulks her way into his home.

As she's making her way to the living room, Rei grumbles, "Nothing Aoba. Is Mari here?"

"Yeah i'm here, silly." Mari quips out in a snarky tone. However, her attitude quickly fades after she notices that her friend has quite an attitude right now and adds, "Hey are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rei mumbles back to Mari as she walks into the kitchen and takes out a can of Dr. Pepper and starts chugging it. "Just tell me when we can get started. I'm ready when the both of you are."

Frustrated by Rei's snippy attitude, Mari gets up, stomps her way into the kitchen and yells back, "I don't want to be playing with you if you keep this bloody awful attitude up, mate. I know something's up with you and would really appreciate it if you just calm down and explain to me why you're acting like such a wanker."

"No thanks Mari. I don't feel like giving you a headline story on why i'm acting like a prick right now." Rei sneers back as she keeps chugging on her soda.

Finally getting fed up with her friend's snotty actions, Mari grabs Rei's hood and pulls it down, only to suddenly see a good hint of Rei's bruise cut and gash laden face. She backs off in shock and mutters, "Oh god Rei. What in the bloody hell happened to you?"

"I got in an altercation last night. It's not a big deal though." Rei mutters in a deadly serious deadpan tone.

Aoba then notices the bickering between the two girls and enters the kitchen as well, only to have his jaw drop on shock when he sees Rei's mangled face. "Holy shit Rei. What the hell happened, man?"

* * *

Right as Rei's anger rises and before she could also tell Aoba off, all three of them hear the doorbell ring, which prompts Mari to stammer out, "I'll answer it this time.". She then quickly makes her way to the front door, opens it and is greeted by Shinji, Mana and a tan boy she has never met before.

"Hi Mari." Shinji happily mutters out. "Is Rei here?"

"Yeah. Sort of." Mari sarcastically replies, then turns her head back towards Aoba and asks him, "We got more guests. Can they come in?"

"Sure." Aoba mutters as he leaves the kitchen since he and Mari's plan to try to get a reaction out of Rei has backfired. Rei then quickly puts her hood back on since she hears that more people are here.

"Hey Mana. I'm sorry about the other day." Mari tells her as she, Shinji and the tan boy walk through Aoba's house.

"Oh don't worry about it. I can understand why you acted like that." Mana replies in her usually cheery tone.

"Ah I guess that's some closure on that." Mari replies back as she stretches her limbs, though she's still very concerned about Rei's well being, especially since Shinji and Mana are here too.

"So where's Rei?" Shinji asks her since he doesn't seem to see her around in the house.

"She's in the kitchen, but be careful. She's in a foul mood right now." Mari warns Shinji since she doesn't want to see him given an ear full.

"Uh thanks." Shinji replies, sounding a little confused by what she said.

* * *

He then makes his way into the kitchen, sees Rei standing by the fridge, drinking another can of Dr. Pepper and mutters, "Hi Rei."

"Hi Shinji. Is Mana here with you?" Rei quietly replies in a slightly monotonous tone, then takes another sip of soda.

"Yeah. Actually, she has a friend that's aware you guys needed a bassist and likes to join your band, so we all decided to come over so he can have an audition." Shinji replies back, trying his best to keep things upbeat in his voice, though he senses a really bad vibe emitting from Rei.

"I see. He's gonna have to ask Aoba if he join our band. He's the one who makes those decisions, not me." Rei mutters back, still sounding unusually monotonous.

"Okay." Shinji nods back in response. However, he finally realizes that Rei hasn't even bothered to turn around and look at him face to face, which he then adds in a worried tone, "Rei, is there something wrong?"

"Shinji.." Rei mutters back, then sighs since she really doesn't want to yell at him. She then thinks to herself, "Dammit Shinji. Can't believe you're over here, let alone accompanied by friggin' Mana.". No longer being able to keep up a lie to her closest friends, Rei sets her can of soda down on the counter, takes her hood off, quickly turns around, plants her hands on Shinji's shoulders and cries out, "Shinji, do you see my face. Do you see how I look?"

"Rei, your face. I can't believe someone did this to you?" Shinji stammers back in complete shock after seeing Rei's messed up face looking right at him.

Tears then start running down Rei's face as she explains herself in a very sorrowful tone, which all prompts Mari, Mana, Aoba and the tan boy to approach the kitchen and eavesdrop on the both of them. "I've been lying to your parents and the others about what happened to me last night. I told them some jerkass beat me up for no reason last night but it's the furthest thing from the truth. What really happened is that I spent some time with a guy I met at the airport when I first moved here and accidentally broke his nose when things got a little too uncomfortable between us."

"Was he the one who did this to you?" Shinji asks her in a very serious, concerned tone.

"No. Not at all." Rei cries back, still feeling really bad about lying to her superiors earlier in the day. "When I broke his nose, I got the hell out of there and decided to go to HQ so I can ask Dr. Akagi about something that was bugging me...then...then..."

"Then what?" Shinji again asks her, really invested in getting the full gory details.

"This...this dude in some really stupid high tech armor showed up. I swear...this guy has been stalking me here and there and...and I really was fed up with his crap so I tried to fight him off. It..well...kinda went alright since I broke his helmet, but...but he did a real number to my face. I was so friggin' stupid to do that." Rei confesses as she continues to cry. She then buries her head onto Shinji's right shoulder and cries out, "I'm so sorry. Please tell Mari and Aoba that i'm sorry but please, tell them to not even tell the truth to your parents, Dr. Akagi, that weirdo Lieutenant Ibuki and anyone else."

Shinji then pats Rei's back and brushes her hair, trying his best to calm her down and replies, "Okay Rei. I promise. I don't like seeing you like this."

Feeling a lot more relaxed, Rei lifts her head, looks right back into Shinji's eyes, sees a real glow in him she hasn't seen before, twists her lips into an angelic smile not even a bruised and cut up face could damper, wraps her arms around the back of Shinji's neck and leans her head closer towards his face. Shinji then wraps his arms around Rei's waist, smiles back and start to slow lean his lips towards Rei's as if they're about to embrace each other in unadulterated, honest passion. However, they both manage to catch a glimpse of the others and quickly back off from each other, embarrassed.

While Aoba looks completely puzzled by what happened and Mana surprisingly looks like she's totally oblivious of what happened, Mari tries her hardest to not burst into laughter, aware that even though Shinji is hanging out with Mana and seems to be starting a relationship with her, his heart and affection truly belongs to her friend Rei. The tan boy simply stands still, showing no real concern towards the events unfolding in front of his eyes.

"Mana. Please don't be mad at me. I'm just really worried about Rei, that's all." Shinji stammers at her, trying his hardest to avert a massive emotional meltdown that could commence any second now.

"Shinji. I'm not mad at you. In fact..i'm very happy you helped calm her down." Mana replies, not sounding even remotely affected by what went down.

"Oh. Thanks." Shinji replies back, confused by how Mana is taking things after what happened between him and Rei.

* * *

Right before anyone else could say anything, the tan boy steps out of Shinji and Mana's shadows and asks, "Pardon me, but I was told certain individuals here have a band and are looking for a bassist. Can one of you tell me if I can audition for that position?"

"Yes dude. Just...just meet me in my home studio and we'll get things started." Aoba tells him, though since he doesn't know this boy's name, he then asks, "By the way, what's your name, man?"

"Musashi. Musashi Lee Strasberg." the boy replies in a very formal tone. "So you must be the band leader."

"Yeah. Name's Shigeru Aoba and i'm also one of two guitarists of the band. Ms. Blue Hair over there is Rei Ayanami and she's the other guitarist as well as lead vocals. Last but not least is our drummer Mari Makinami. She's the one with the glasses." Aoba tells Musashi, pointing at the other band members as he mentions them.

Musashi nods at the girls, then looks back at Aoba and mutters, "Thanks for the quick introductions but can we please get on with my audition? I gotta get back home in an hour."

"When you put it that way, bro, yeah." Aoba replies back. He then looks at Rei and Mari and tells them, "Girls. Let's not waste anymore time. Off to the home studio, pronto.", which they simply nod their heads back at him. He then also adds, "Shinji and...uhhh...what's your name again, ma'am?"

"Mana. Mana Kirishima." Mana chirps back in her seemingly endless happy tone.

"Okay. Once again, Shinji and...Mana, if you like to watch us, feel free to come along too." Aoba replies back, sounding a bit impatient since Musashi needs to get his audition over with so he can go back home. Both Shinji and Mana then nod back and the entire group then follow Aoba into his home studio.

* * *

Inside Aoba's home studio, he, Rei and Musashi are standing with their guitars in hand while Mari sits in the drum kit behind them cracking her knuckles and cranking her neck. Shinji and Mana are seen sit on the opposite side of them, patiently waiting for them to stat jamming.

"Are you ready, dude?" Rei calmly asks Musashi as he takes a few deep breaths, nervously waiting for the others to start.

"Yeah Rei. Ready when you and the others are." Musashi replies back, looking a little pale in his tan complexion.

Rei then looks at her fellow bandmates, which they nod back at her. She then looks back at Musashi, lifts her right hand up towards him, gives him thumbs up and nods in approval.

Musashi then nods back and Mari starts hitting her drumsticks together three times while shouting "One two three!", which prompts them all to start playing, starting off at a sort of AC/DC like rock groove.

While Rei, Mari and Aoba are playing in sync, Musashi initially has some minor trouble following along. After a minute of jamming though, he starts showing off that he's a competent bassist at most. The others then speed up their pace, jumping into a style rather reminiscent of Judas Priest and New Wave of British Heavy Metal, which Musashi manages to smoothly transition into the style jump. After playing this style for a good thirty seconds, the main trio then abruptly switch in an imitation Bay Area Thrash style that throws Musashi off for a few seconds, but ends up getting back in sync with the others. However, no more than a mere fifteen minutes later, Rei shouts out, "Grind it all out now!", which she and her bandmates then shift into an extremely noisy and violent deathgrind style that Musashi has some difficulty switching to but eventually gets into it.

Right as the band calms things down, they shift gears into a style that's echoes of late seventies/earlier eighties Post-Punk that lasts for several seconds, then immediately switches back to the Grindcore style, giving Musashi tonal whiplash that only lasts for a few seconds, then manages to get back into the groove but before he even realizesit, Aoba shouts, "Stop.", which he and the other two core members stop playing, followed by Shinji and Mana applauding at their combined effort.

Rei, Mari and Aoba then look at each other, put their respective instruments down and huddle up to each other, which they then quietly discuss their opinions of Musashi's skills and synchronicity. Then they nod at each other, turn back around and look at Musashi. He looks at them with a nervous smile and asks, "So. How did I do?"

The core trio think for a few seconds, which worries Musashi a little. However, Aoba then looks at him and asks, "Do you think you'll be able to perform live on stage in a few weeks?"

"Yeah. Does that mean i'm in?" Musashi asks the others since he's not sure if that's a total confirmation of him becoming their bassist.

Rei then lifts her right arm, gives Musashi thumbs up and nods at him in approval, signaling that he's now the band's bassist. He then thrusts his left arm and shouts, "Yes!" which also prompts Mana and Shinji to applaud him for getting accepted into the band.

"Good job Musashi. I knew you could do it." Mana cheerfully tells him as she, Shinji and Musashi's now fellow bandmates clap their hands. Rei however sighs in relief and tells herself, "At least we finally got a proper line up now."

* * *

Near the outskirts of Tokyo-3, a slightly banged up look blue 1995 Nissan 240SX is seen parked on the road. Inside, Kaji and Shiro are seen getting inside the car. They both sit down on their respective seats and put their seat belts on.

"So where are we going?" Kaji asks his old college buddy as he stretches his arms and waits for him to start the car

"Tokyo-2." Shiro quickly replies. "That's where all the casinos are at, ol' friend."

"Heh. Tokyo-2. Good place to get lost and...meet people." Kaji responds, though he starts to sound slightly depressed as he recalls some rather important aspects of his life that happened there.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" Shiro asks him, concerned with how his friend is sounding. "Does this pertain to what happened between you and Misato?"

"…..never mind. I'll probably find a girl in a bar or something." Kaji replies, trying to not make his friend feel bad for him. "Besides, we're gonna drink the shit out of the bar, throw up our guts and party like there's no tomorrow."

"Now that's the spirit." Shiro responds, smiling in a very smug, mugging manner as he puts the key into the car's ignition and revs it to life.

"Guess so." Kaji responds back, trying to feel a lot better about himself and doing his hardest to bury the hard break up he and Misato went through. The car then backs up and proceeds to drive away, making it's way outside the city limits en route to Tokyo-2.

* * *

Later that night, a figure wearing a welder's helmet is seen sitting by a table inside a darkened apartment with some tools in hand.

On said table is The Dark One's damaged helmet, which the figure then puts it's hands on it and starts doing some repairs on it, as well as repairs of other parts of The Dark One's armor that was damaged in his fight with Rei the night before.

* * *

Minutes pass as the mysterious person keeps repairing each piece of the armor that suffered damaged in the altercation, right until it stops, sets its tools aside and removes the welding helmet off of it's head.

* * *

Another few minutes pass by and The Dark One emerges out of the building's rooftop, standing outside at the dead of night. The evening wind makes his cape float ominously as The Dark One quietly stands still, observing his surroundings and seeing if the repairs were done in a satisfactory way. Seeing that everything seems to be working fine, The Dark One turns around, walks back into the building and disappears into the shadows.


	41. Chapter 40: The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still

**Chapter 40: The Day Tokyo-3 Stood Still**

* * *

"Oh my god, Satsuki. I can't believe we're all doing this together." a young woman with short brown hair blurted out as she stood inside a moving bus.

"Oh yeah Kaede. Can't believe it either." another woman chimed in. She happened to have long dirty blonde hair that was a bit curly.

Kaede then turned her head towards a third girl who was sitting down and reading a magazine. This gal in question was wearing glasses and had dark violent hair that's longer than Kaede's but significantly shorter than Satsuki's.

"You too Aoi? I am so in heaven right now." Kaede squealed out in excitement as she saw that some of her friends are along with her in the bus.

"Kaede. Did you forget we're getting job interviews at Nerv today?" Aoi snapped back at her in a snippy tone. "We're gonna be working for the company that keeps sucking the life out of our city's finances."

"Oh don't be so stiff Aoi." Satsuki replied in an optimistic tone. "Remember...it's Nerv or nothing in Tokyo-3."

"Ugh. If I didn't owe state and federal five hundred dollars each in travel expenses, then I would be trying to get a job with the JSSDF." Aoi sneered back, sounding relatively disgusted with herself over her own personal financial crisis.

The other two girls simply stared at Aoi, befuddled by her off the cuff rant for several seconds. Kaede then broke the awkward tension and muttered, "Still you gotta admit it's fantastical we're all in this together today.", which Aoi shrugged in annoyance, since it seemed like what she said went through one ear and out the other and resumed reading.

* * *

As the bus arrived at Nerv HQ, the bus driver shouted out, "Those who need to get out here, please stand up and exit the bus.", which prompted Satsuki and Kaede to head towards the bus exit. Aoi stopped reading, stood up and followed the other. Right behind her though is a pink haired woman with bigger than normal lips, who seemed to not be a part of their group in spite of being a like minded individual with a similar goal.

The four women then stood in front of Nerv HQ, with Kaede and Satsuki standing real close to each other, Aoi leaning against a wall right in front of them and the pink haired woman quietly standing on the opposite wall apart from the rest of the women. They then saw the automated doors open, which Yui Ikari then emerged and asked them, "So you must be our applicants?"

While Kaede, Satsuki and the pink haired woman nodded their head in approval, Aoi shrugged in annoyance. This prompted Yui to add. "Okay. Come in. You all can't just stand out here and expect to get an internship without doing anything.". She then turned around and started walking back into HQ, which the four women then proceeded to follow her inside. With no one standing outside, the doors then firmly closed back up.

* * *

"Lieutenant Ibuki. You're here earlier than usual." Aoba muttered as he sat on a table in the mess hall and saw Maya passing by.

"Well. You could say I actually made it on time for once." Maya replied back as she sat down next to him, holding a steaming hot cup of coffee with her right hand.

Aoba then noticed she was holding the cup by having her hand wrapped around it as opposed to holding it by the handle and asked her, "Hey. Doesn't that cup of coffee seems like it's awfully hot?"

"Nah it's fine. Just waiting for it to cool down." Maya calmly replied back, sounding relatively optimistic and ignorant of Aoba's observation.

"I know you have a rare body temperature condition with that hand and all but do you think you're doing more harm than good to that hand holding that cup like that when it's that hot?" Aoba added, concerned that Maya might be burning her hand despite her condition.

Maya then looked at Aoba with an annoyed glare, sat her cup of coffee down and replied, "Happy now?". Aoba then quietly shrugged back, stood up and left the mess hall, which prompted Maya to pick the cup of coffee back up with her right hand. She then heard some voices coming from down the hall, saw steam cautiously drifting out of the liquid, then looked at her own hand and quietly groaned, "Oh fuck", which she subsequently put the mug back down, grabbed it by the handle and lifted it up for a third time.

Right as she held the cup back towards her face, she found herself confronted by Yui Ikari and a group of woman accompanying her. She looked up and asked Yui, "Who are they?"

"Oh hi Lieutenant Ibuki, these are some potential recruits to the command bridge. I'm just giving them a brief tour of the place before I take them to the Commander to begin the recruitment exercises." Yui explained, grinning as she tried her hardest to remain as professional as possible. She then stood there quietly, which puzzled Maya a little until she quickly coughed out "Introduce yourself."

"Oh...sorry about that." Maya apologized as she sat her coffee down for the last time and stood up to introduce herself to the others. "Ladies, I am Lieutenant Maya Ibuki and if any of you manage to successfully join our ranks here at Nerv, I will be considered a senior member of the command bridge alongside my colleagues Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyuga, whom you will both meet in due time."

Yui smiled in satisfaction over Maya's very professional introduction, whispered into her ears, "Very good." and walked back to stand with the potential recruits. She then asked them, "May you ladies return the favor and introduce yourselves to the Lieutenant?", which they all nod back at her.

Without hesitation, Kaede approached Maya and told her, "Kaede Agano. I hail from Okinawa and just recently graduated from Okinawa Shogaku High.". She then saluted Maya and stood back in unison with the others, smiling.

Being next in line, Satsuki followed what Kaede did and approached the Lieutenant. She then informed her, "Satsuki Ooi of Nishiwaga, Iwate. Before I made this decision to sign up working for here, I was in the process of getting a degree at Akita University but figured joining Nerv would help me gain a positive reputation in the work force."

Again, Maya quietly nodded at the recruitee with a smile and watched her get back in line. With only two more recruitees left to introduce themselves, Aoi nervously stood there, scratching the back of her neck and having no real desire to introduce herself. However, she caught a glimpse of Yui growing irate over her wasting time, quickly approached May and spewed out, "Aoi Mogami of Hiroshima. While I did do some studies at Nagoka University of Technology, I actually traveled overseas to the United States and studied at Harvard University to diversify my education until I was unable to further afford staying in America and was forced to to Japan, hence why i'm here today, hopeful that I join Nerv and be able to pay off said fees."

After hearing Aoi's back story, her eyes widened in curiosity and she asked her, "Ms. Mogami, what were you looking into doing for a living if everything went as planned?"

"Robotics engineering, Ms. Ibuki." Aoi quietly nodded back. "I hate to gush over my idols but i've been wanting to follow in Naomi Mifune's footsteps. She's a real legend to aspiring robotics engineers like me."

"She...she sure is, Ms. Mogami." Maya hesitantly replied, having a slight tell tale paleness in her face. "She's...pretty much a legend. No doubt about it."

Aoi then noticed that Maya's face grew pale as they talked about Naomi to the point she looked rather sickly, which caused her to ask, "Lieutenant Ibuki, are you feeling well?"

"I'm okay Ms. Mogami. Just got a little light headed." Maya quickly replied back. "Now...uh...who are...um...you, big lips?"

Right before the pink haired woman got a chance to introduce herself, Yui looked at Lieutenant Ibuki with a concerned expression and ordered, "Lieutenant Ibuki, go ahead and rest. I'll take it from here.". Without any complaints, Maya then heeded her advice and walked out the room, much to the pink haired woman's disappointment.

* * *

Yui then looked back at the recruitees and informed them, "Move along, everyone. I think it's time for you all to meet the Commander."

All the girls then nodded at Yui and followed her lead. They all then stopped by Gendo's office and stood as Yui approached the office door and knocked on it.

"Honey, are you in there. I got the recruitees waiting to meet you." Yui told her husband as she stood outside his office. She then waited for him to respond but for a good thirty seconds, he never bothered to even make a peep, much to Yui's annoyance. She then shouted back to him, "Did you hear me Gendo or are you just ignoring me?"

Finally, much to her relief, Gendo shouted back, "Alright alright, i'm coming out. Just hold your horses for pete's sake.". Before leaving, Gendo opened an ice chest, pulled out a bottle of Pepsi, drank a little bit of it and sat it aside. He then stood up, left his office and found himself facing his wife and several young women he has never met before. He then looked at his wife and asked her, "So these must be our potential new bridge crew members. Could you kindly introduce them to me?"

"Sure thing, honey." Yui replied back with a warm smile. "Well first off, the one with blonde hair. That's Satsuki Ooi. She decided to halt her studies at Akita University to attempt working here."

"Interesting." Gendo inquired in a slightly disinterested tone, which kinda disappointed Satsuki in his notable lack of enthusiasm. He then focused his attention towards Kaede and asked her, "Now who's could you be?"

"Kaede. Kaede Agano!" She cheerfully chirped back, which gave Gendo some slight pause. "You know...like that British movie guy James Bond."

"You're a secret agent?" Gendo asked her in a surprised tone, hoping that she might not suddenly arrest him on the spot.

"No silly. I just wanted to say my name like that. You know, introduce myself with a little flair." Kaede giggled in response. "I so can't wait to see if I can quality working for Nerv."

"I see." Gendo replied back, slightly weirded out by Kaede's overt enthusiasm. He then once again looked at his wife and asked, "So we know who those two are. Now please introduce me to the one with glasses."

"Commander Ikari." Aoi sternly snapped back at him in a rather offended tone. "I am Aoi Mogami and I do not take stupid comments like that lightly."

"Oooh. I kinda like you already." Gendo lightly chucked. "I do have to ask though. What are your credentials, Ms. Mogami?"

"As I told a Lieutenant Ibuki, I was studying robotics in America but I had to come back here due to financial problems, so i'm hoping to pick back up from where I left off once I have replenished all of my lost funds through paychecks i'll get working here." Aoi replied, still sounding a lot more serious than the others.

"Ms. Mogami. If you manage to make the cut and prove yourself to be a very worthy asset, we at Nerv will gladly help provide you a first class ticket back to the school you were studying at overseas." Gendo happily replied back in an optimistic tone.

"Thank you Commander Ikari. You won't be disappointed by what I have to offer." Aoi calmly thanks him and bows.

Gendo then looked at the pink haired woman, who has yet to have even introduce herself to anyone and asked, "That just leaves you, candy darling. Who are you and what's your story?"

"Oh you don't need to be so charming, Commander Ikari." the pink girl laughed back, looking a little embarrassed. "Anyhow, I am glad you're given me a chance to finally introduce me to you all."

Everyone around her applauded, anxious to her own explanation of why she wants to work at Nerv.

"Alright. My name is Midori Kitakami and I hail from the countryside in the outskirts of Tokyo-2. I came from a relatively poor family who worked their asses off raising me and my brothers and sisters the best they could. In spite of that, I managed to have quite the success by being a model for video game conventions but don't think i'm of average IQ. I was able to enroll in one of the top colleges in Japan and have quite the credentials that helps give me on the spot employment. I don't know if I will offer much here at Nerv but i'll try the hardest to be a competent enough bridge office at the very least." Midori explained to everyone, surprising them all by her speech as much as her unusually big lips and obviously dyed hair color.

"Very nice to hear that, Ms. Kitakami." Yui replied. She then looked back at her husband and asked him, "Now that you know all of the ladies her, what's the next move?"

"Well. Let's show them where exactly they might be working at if they're employed here." Gendo replied to his wife.

Yui then looked at the recruitees and told them, "You heard the Commander. Follow his lead.", which the women then nodded their heads and proceeded to follow him and Yui.

* * *

"Dammit Rei. Why won't you pick up your friggin' phone?" Mari complained as she stood outside her friend's apartment, decked out in her school uniform. "The only thing that's worse than this is that Kaji isn't in town to help me out. What a lot of tosh."

As Mari continued to stand outside, Rei was seen sleeping in her bed on the right side of her body, totally oblivious that her friend is desperately trying to wake her up. She then flipped her body onto her bed back first and moves her head around. However, as her face rubbed up against a pillow, she quickly woke up and touched her face. She realized that it felt significantly less lumpy than yesterday. Despite this revelation, she then heard her cellphone ringing, which she picked it up, saw Mari's number and answered it.

"Mari. It's not a school day. What gives?" Rei questioned her in a snippy tone as she scratched her head and got out of bed.

"Rei, don't act like i'm not happy that i'm up this early on a non-school day, sunshine." Mari replied, sounding a little out of breath. "I got a call from Ms. Ikari that there might be an angel heading towards here, so we need to be at HQ just in case."

"Well, it's been a while since the last angel fight, so if you say so, just tell me where you are and i'll be out the door." Rei nodded, then took her pajamas off to put on some street clothes.

"I'm standing outside, silly." Mari sarcastically groaned. "I've been trying to wake your stiff arse up for the past fifteen minutes so we get to HQ ASAP."

"No wonder why I could hear such urgency in your voice in my half-asleep, half-awake haze when I picked the phone up." Rei chimed back, now wearing clothes suitable in public. "Just hang on a little bit longer. I'll be out really soon."

"Just don't take your sweet time. We can't afford to be fiddling about here all day." Mari sternly told her friend, totally impatient on waiting for her friend now. However, she saw that Rei hung up her cellphone, which she hoped that her friend will be out of that door pretty soon.

A mere minute later, Rei emerged out of her apartment, ready to go to HQ. She looked at Mari and asked, "I guess we go now, right?"

"Most definitely, though I have to admit your face sure looks a hell of a lot better than it did yesterday." Mari replied, finally looking a lot less agitated.

"Yeah. I'm just as surprised as you are." Rei responded to her friend. "It's almost like I have exceedingly quick healing but maybe i'm just lucky the punishment I took wasn't as severe as I thought it was going to be."

"Me too." Mari nodded back in a happy tone. "However, we can't waste anymore time now, so let's get going."

"I'll follow your lead." Rei replied back and saw her friend dart down the stairs with little concern. She then followed her friend and took off running as well.

* * *

"So Commander Ikari. Why do you call the robots Evangelions?" Kaede asked him as they and the others followed the Commander as he showed them the machines they'll help monitor if they get the job. "I mean, why not call them something awesome and marketable?"

"What do you propose calling them, Ms. Agano?" Gendo replied in a bothered tone. "Please, be my guest and speak your mind in front of us all. Don't be afraid, we'll all pretty close knit here at Nerv."

"Well...I was thinking that we should call them Jaegers. Why? Because Jaeger sounds more mysterious and more cool. Not to mention really smooth as ice on the tongue."

"Seriously?" Gendo snapped back at her, confused and annoyed."You want us to put 70-proof on the EVAs and replace LCL with alcohol?"

"That's not what I had in mind at all, Commander Ikari." Kaede quietly replied back, disappointed. "I just think we should name the Evangelions something cooler. Also, why do we have to call those monsters angels? Why don't we, I dunno, call them kaiju?"

"Gazuntite, Ms. Agano. If it's too cold down here, I can have someone turn the temperature up." Gendo calmly responded, even going as far as to pull a napkin out.

"Commander Ikari, I didn't sneeze. I said kaiju. You know, it's what they call giant monsters of those Godzilla and Gamera moves. I figure that it would really make the...ahem...angels more easily referable to in religious communities and marketing campaigns." Kaede responded, desperately trying to convince the Commander as much as she could.

"Ms. Agano, I know you're trying to help and god bless your heart, kid but we're a military organization, not some real life super sentai team. Just because we have teenagers piloting the EVAs doesn't mean we need to make ourselves more hip to just about anyone. So for the record, EVAs will still be EVAs and angels will still be angels. We're not changing a single thing. Sorry." Gendo slammed back at her in a deadly serious tone.

Severely disappointed, Kaede sunk her head in and got back in line with the others, whom aside from Midori, looked at her with angry glares.

However, The Dark One stood hidden in a darkened corner, spying on them with malicious intent.

* * *

A half hour later, Rei and Mari arrived at HQ and stood outside the entrance. Right before they decided to go inside, they both heard a voice shout, "Oh look. It's wonder girl and favored four eyes. What a surprise.", which they both turned around and saw Asuka standing behind them.

"Asuka. Looks like you were given the word about the impending angel attack too." Rei shrugged. "So where's Shinji. I figure he would be here too."

"I'm right here, Rei." Shinji calmly spoke out and stepped out from being behind Asuka. "Misato's not though, so we had to take a cab to get here."

"I see." Mari added as she took off her glasses and cleaned some dirt and dust off of them. "I guess she got to HQ before the two of you woke up."

"Of course, Captain Obvious." Asuka shouted out in bitter annoyance. "And i've been standing out here for fifteen friggin' minutes because me and baka Shinji left our goddamn ID cards at home. Do you by any chance have yours on you?"

"Yeah, sunshine. Hang on." Mari dryly replied as she walked up to the entrance and swiped her ID card into the card reader. She then saw the main entrance doors slowly open, which she sarcastically snapped back at Asuka and told her, "See. It pays to keep your ID card on you. Never leave home without it."

However, much to the surprise of the others, the door suddenly stopped right before it left a big enough gap for them to squeeze in, which prompted Rei to tell her friend, "Oh crap. Looks like we got a problem."

"What is it. Aren't the doors opening up?" Mari replied to her friend in a puzzled tone. Thankfully, she subsequently turned around and saw the doors, which prompted her to groan out, "Oh bollocks."

* * *

"So as you all know. We at Nerv all require newcomers and potential newcomers to watch a training video to get to know how we do things around here." Fuyutsuki explained to the women as he was escorting them to the video room, sounding incredibly bored out of his mind. However, he noticed that the light in the room suddenly went out.

"Fuyutsuki. What happened to the light. Was it as bored as you?" Satsuki asked him, sounding a little snippy and blunt.

"Hell if I know Ms. Ooi, but I think we should all stick together and head back to the bridge." Fuyutsuki replied back, sounding very serious yet slightly less bored than before, only to suddenly take off running, hoping the women would follow him.

Much to his shock though, only Midori managed to courageously follow him back though the darkness, which Fuyutsuki then subsequently asked her, "Ms. Kitakami, where's the others?"

"No clue. Seems like even Aoi Mogami didn't bother to follow us." Midori replied back, sounding just as surprised as he is.

"So much for Lieutenant Ibuki thinking she was the smart one." Fuyutsuki disappointingly sighed as he and Midori stood in the bridge, awaiting for anyone else to show up.

* * *

"Damn it. Why did you two not follow him?!" Aoi angrily yelled at her friends, who decided to not follow Fuyutsuki and Midori back to the bridge.

"Aoi, girl. It's too damn dark to follow them. I'm scared as hell." Satsuki stuttered, trembling in fear.

"Yeah it's dark. Real dark. Probably be better for the Commander or someone to help us out." Kaede added, sounding less frightened than Satsuki but still a bit distressed with the current situation.

As the girls continued to talk to each other, two glowing red lights illuminated in the darkness, obviously a tell tale sign that The Dark One is with them. He quietly snuck towards them and right before they could even notice him, he swiftly attacked them all, knocking all three of them out, as well as breaking Aoi's glasses with ease.

Standing over their unconscious bodies, The Dark One slammed his right hand against the wall, which made a hidden door open up and he started to drag the women into where the hidden door leads to, in spite of not being able to get a hold of Midori in addition to the three friends that showed up to get a job at Nerv.

After The Dark One dragged Aoi, Satsuki and Kaede into the hidden area, the door immediately closed, becoming hidden again to the naked eye.


End file.
